January 12, 2026 Special Board Meeting, Organizational Board Meeting, and Regular Board Meeting

001Call one of [snorts] three meetings to order and we'll start with roll call please. >> Breen >> here. >> DJ Dlinger >> here. >> Stephanie Edman >> here. >> Randy Hidman >> here. >> Sarah Spear >> here. >> John Ward >> here. >> Thank you. All right. Let's do the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States which stands nation under God and indivisible and justice for that. >> All right. This meeting of the Briner School Board is being conducted in accordance with Minnesota statute 15B.02. This meeting is being recorded. Access to the recordings will be made available on the school district website soon. I [clears throat] will look for a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> We've got a motion by

002Director Heidman, a second by Director Dundelinger. Any discussion? If not, we'll do a roll call vote for approval. >> Dolinger. >> Yes. >> Stephanie Edman. >> Mhm. >> Randy Hidman. >> Yes. >> Sarah Spear. >> Yes. John Ward. >> Yes. >> Bill Breen. >> Yes. >> All in favor? >> Thank you, Kelly. Public input. Due to this being a special school board meeting, there will be no public input allowed during this particular meeting. And we will move on to the review and discussion of the public input report presented by Barb Dorne. So, we've got a bunch of materials in front of us and I think Barb, I will just hand it over to you and you must be down at the conference getting started. How is it going? >> I am still in St. Peter,

003so we're all heading up tomorrow afternoon to get ready for the conference, but it's going well. I hope I'm going to see some of you there in downtown Minneapolis this week. We've got a lot of really great workshops. If you're coming early, go to the social on Wednesday, but you have to register for it. Um, some really wonderful things that are going to be going on this week. So, I hope I see you there. If you see me, come up and say hi, please. >> We will. There are a few of us that plan to be there. And it looks like there are a few new things and a few new things on the schedule. So, that's exciting. >> Quite a few new things. Yeah, change is good. And we mix it up a little

004bit, but it's still going to be a great time. So, please do come say hi. Uh, we have quite a few things to cover here relative to the superintendent search today. The first will be the review of the public input summary report, which I believe you all have in front of you. You also received it electronically. Following that report, we're going to talk about what's next in terms of getting additional public input. You have some options to consider [snorts] in combination with round two of the interviews, for example. So, we're going to talk about that once we've completed going through the report, and I'm not going to go through every single page because I know you have it, but I do want to highlight some things that I noticed in that report. After talking about

005additional input from the public, we're going to move on to the interview training. I want to recognize that most of the board has been through the interview training before as well as through some interviews in the superintendent search process and you have a packet of information. I believe Kelly printed an abbreviated version. Uh but the full version is in your electronic email from me. I just didn't want that much paper being used because we certainly don't need to cover some of the more minute things that are part of that packet. When we finish with training, and you're welcome to ask any and all questions during that, we're going to move on to specifics about the interview. So, first we'll be talking about the schedules for round one and round two. And the injury schedules were

006included in the email I sent. And then we're also going to talk about the round one uh questions. And thanks to those of you who sent some questions in advance to me. Kelly has the proposed questions, but she's going to hand those out right before we start talking about the questions. When we're all done, hopefully we've been able to get through and pick 10 to 12, 10 to 15 questions. She's going to collect those back from everyone and shred them immediately after the meeting. You want to be careful with the questions unless you as a board choose to make all of the questions completely public to all of the applicants. That'll be something that we'll talk about at the end as well. That's what I'm hoping to accomplish in the next hour and a half.

007Are there any questions from you before we get started? Okay, let's just take a look at the public engagement summary report. I'm going to attempt screen sharing. And I know you have it in front of you, so it might not be critical, but for those who are watching the live stream, I'd like to give it a shot to uh share the report. Whether Google Meet is something I am proficient at is debated. Okay. Chrome tab, window tab. There we go. This looks like Oh, that's training materials. Well, I know I'm going to be able to do the interview training materials. No problem. But let me try the report one more time. Okay. It has to be the first thing lined up in Adobe. This is why it's not going to work yet. If not, Ryan's

008my backup. I know that. >> Yes. >> Brainer public survey report now. It's pretty small, but can people see this report now? >> Not very well. >> Okay. I will zoom in a little bit on it and hoping that you if I zoom in on it I hope >> I mean we all have paper copies. >> Yeah, >> we all have paper copies Barb. >> As long as we know what page you're on. >> Yeah. Y >> Okay, let's just leave it there. Then I won't have to worry about making it bigger and smaller. So, one thing I want to do is congratulate you on how many people responded to the survey. We had 1,284 people take the survey. All of those were in English. None were in Spanish. However, that doesn't mean that your

009Spanish speaking population didn't take the survey. Very often we find folks for whom the first language is not English. uh they will still take a survey in English either on their own or with assistance of their family or their kid or a neighbor or someone in the district. So that is more than last time. We did a survey a couple of years ago relative to your search and we had just over 1100 people take it. So it was more this time indicating a great deal of interest in the survey. On the homepage you'll see the self-identifiers. People had to pick who they were when they took the survey. What hat were they wearing? And over 56% selected parent or guardian. The next closest about 21% were staff members followed by about 10% that were community

010members. We had almost um 9% that were students which is great. That's a strong showing from students. Almost 3% said other and about 2% said business owner. This is typical. We usually see parents and guardians being the largest respondent category followed by staff. So this is also very typical. The areas of expertise at the bottom. We're going to talk more about this later as well, but I think these things are reflected in your leadership profile. I was very glad to see, for example, things about budget and finance, collaborative leadership, curriculum, uh, personnel management, communication, all of those things are in your leadership profile. The additional areas that we might want to think about asking interview questions about that rose to the top, again, this is out of like 17 choices, uh, were strategic planning and

011public relations. So, we could include some questions about those, but nothing in here is um divisively different from the school board. So, that's really good news. You're on the same page with what people seem to respond in the survey. The second page does talk about previous experience. How important is it that the next superintendent have [cough and clears throat] previous Okay, it's not moving forward for me, so I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm trying to click next page and it's not moving. Okay, I'll just leave it up and keep talking, but this report will most likely be on the website for folks in the future as well. When you look at previous experience, it's pretty much a dead heat. 51% said yes and uh 49% said no. That is statistically insignificant.

012So, I'd say it's a coin toss as to how important it is that people have previous experience as a superintendent. But, we also broke it out by respondent category, and we'll walk you through that in just a minute. the specialized skills. We have a full page comparing and contrasting that information to the school board because that's the hiring criteria survey that you took. Out of about 24 choices, these were the top six that rose up to the top for people who took the survey. We'll look at this again in a little more detail in a moment. As well as personal characteristics and then you can see percentage-wise this time you see numbers of who took. And you see that we had 720 parents or guardians take it, 265 staff members and etc. So down below

013at the bottom of page two, previous experience required. Overall, it was that even split 51 to 49%. But when you look at how it divided out by respondent category, what's interesting, parents and guardians were nearly split identical, 47 to 52, 53, something like that. But look at the staff members. 75% of your staff, almost 75% would prefer someone who's been a superintendent before. Again, this is just is that experience important or not? 75% nearly of staff members said yes. And on the flip side, your students, the majority, 65% said no. So, that was interesting to see that. Um, business owners also said no, 62%. But when you average that out, it aligns very much with what the board originally said, which is leaning toward yes, but does not have to have the experience. So, any

014questions on previous experience. Okay, third page is top six areas of expertise. I do see quite a bit of alignment here, which is great. When you talk about budget and finance, all six respondent groups had that in their top six. So if that makes sense, six out of six did choose budget and finance as being important. Five out of six chose collaborative leadership. Four out of six did choose curriculum development. It's interesting that those who chose curriculum development in their top um six were let's see parents and guardians, community members, students, and business owners. Staff did not have curriculum development in their top six. Now that doesn't mean that it wasn't near the top seven, eight or nine, but it was not in the top six. And I kind of wonder when you look at

015parents and guardians saying curriculum development was important and your students had it as the number one for them if there is um a difference in interpretation of what curriculum development evaluation looks like between students and parents because they both had it very high up which is very interesting. Strategic planning was in five of the six groups. Now, student testing results in achievement only appeared in two top six, and that was parents and guardians and business owners. Doesn't mean that it's unimportant. It did, however, only rise to the top in those two groups. And personnel management was in five groups as well. So, there is a lot of consistency across here for the most part, other than that one on student achievement and testing being more important to parents and business owners. But look at the

016student column. You had 112 students take this survey. They chose four things that didn't appear in anyone else's. So other than curriculum and budget and finance, which your students prioritize one and two, they also feel it's important to focus on social and emotional support services, on educational equity, on public [snorts] relations, and on fundraising and grant writing. So I think your students are looking a little bit outside of the box in terms of concern around finance which is getting tighter and tighter for all school districts. So those were the areas of expertise. Uh the six personal characteristics for everybody also showed a great deal of alignment. [snorts] Effective communicator all six. Problem solver all six. Transparent all six. Ethical all six. Now resourceful there's a blank for staff member. their fifth one was also resourceful.

017Only two so parents and guardians and staff members both cho want someone who is resourceful as well. And then consistent five of the six groups want someone who is consistent. Now staff members and community members chose personable in their top six. I think looking for someone who's a good communicator both inside and outside the school walls will also be important. The next page, page four, is where I talk about comparing and contra contrasting it directly with the schoolboard responses. So this is where your leadership profile is at the top of the page. This is a very colorful page you have in this report. And you can see, for example, the number one thing in your leadership profile is reflected in the hiring criteria survey that the board took. And it also rose to the top

018for public input. Everything in green. What I like when I see this is that there's a lot of colors that overlap. So, I do think the board reflects the community's interests for the most part because you do have so much green, yellow, the navy blue, the light blue. Those are overlap. And this was from a list, remember, that had 24 choices. So, to have similarities in your top seven that are that close is a very, very good thing. Now, there are some areas that you're different. For example, and this is not unusual, the school board prioritized um the visionary and creative leadership skills. That's something I think that you as a governing body are looking for is someone to set that vision. Now, I don't think it's um necessarily bad that that's not in the

019top seven for everybody else, but it is something that school boards tend to be more tuned into than other members of the public. Uh the curriculum data and other resources did rise to the top for you in the top six. it rose to the top for again your your parents and guardians and students but not the rest of the groups that were um represented here. And then number seven for you working cooperatively with the school board. That always shows up more often with school board members than it does with the general public which obviously makes sense. You are looking for leadership from your superintendent for the school board. You want to know your options before you make um any decisions. So that will pop up more often for you than it does for the general

020public. And again at the bottom you can see previous superintendent experience. The board had indicated 67% yes 33% no. There are six of you. So it's not as large a sample as the 1200 people that filled out the survey. But th those folks generally were split 5149. So this is a good thing when I look at this page that I do believe that you are in touch with your constituents and there are some things that are in the leadership profile that didn't bubble up for members of the public or the staff. I do think when I read them though they also align with what the priorities are because many of these things are cross um they cross over things like uh communication ties to collaboration ties to public relations ties to working with different constituent

021groups. So there is some similarities between many of the things that are in those top 24 [clears throat] choices. Are there any questions on page four? Okay. Um page five just talks about those top six out of 24. And here again, we're looking at a lot of alignment. Um the first one, honesty and ethics, that was criteria um for all six groups and for the school board. So that's wonderful. School finance, all six. Um communication skills, it was in four of the six groups. Being visible and accessible was in four of the six groups. Developing, directing an effective leadership team was in four. However, for so for instance, um leadership team was in the top for parents, guardians, community members, um and directs staff members. Yep. I like seeing staff members and parents and guardian

022on the same wave wavelength about that. So, everyone's looking to develop and direct an effective leadership team. And the other two, let's see here. Um I thought there was some similarities here. I put four to six because leadership team. Okay. Delegates authority while maintaining accountability is in the other two. Students and business owners did say delegating authority while maintaining accountability. That's a very close shoulder partner to developing and directing an effective leadership team because that is about delegating and holding people accountable. So I would say there are potentially six groups that feel that way about the leadership at the district level and within the buildings. Now, interestingly enough, the last one on parents and guardians that made it into their top six is implementing practices to support student safety and mental health. That was in

023two groups when we sliced and diced it by respondent category. The other group that um had that in their top six are the students. So, to see parents and guardians and students aligned in terms of safety and mental health is also a very powerful thing. So, any question on this page either? And I know you've already looked at this and we'll spend some more time on it later, but for now I don't want to dwell too long on these. Okay, that's it for the quantitative information that we kind of number crunch. Um, the rest of this report are themes and patterns, but there's a lot here with a lot of representative quotes and I'm not going to go through all of the quotes by any means, but I'm going to highlight the trends and those

024are the things that are in uh bold larger letters in response to four questions. the first question asking about what are some of the good things taking place there. The number one that came up with um 280 responses and we had almost 500 people out of,200 take the time to answer the open-ended questions. So that's also very good. That's almost half almost half of respondents did take time to answer open-ended questions. So thank you to those folks who did that. The number one thing with 280 responses was you have a deeply committed, caring, and highly qualified staff. They consistently show up for students and they work collaboratively across roles, classrooms, educators, and support staff all demonstrate strong dedication, professionalism, and a genuine desire to help students succeed. So that was the most common good thing

025taking place in Brainer public schools. Lots of great comments there supporting that theme. On page eight is the second theme that emerged there, which is that you have a wide variety of academic, elective, and extracurricular opportunities that allow students with diverse interests to engage, learn, and succeed. From arts and athletics to career focused and alternative pathways, there are options to capture every student's interest. That was noted by 195 people. The next great thing going on in your school district is that you have strong academic programming with multiple pathways support student success, graduation, and readiness for both college and careers. Students there benefit from a balance of rigorous coursework, hands-on learning, and targeted supports that help meet learners where they are and build skills for life after high school. Now, keep in mind there's about 180

026people that um referenced that. That's about 180 out of 1,200, but it is 180 out of the 495 that answered open-ended questions. So, it's not as if 1,200 people feel these ways. However, this is a majority um as far as the folks that answered that question. So, that was the third pattern. And then I think we're drawn to the last one here on page 12. Uh the great things happening in Brainard. You have a positive, welcoming school culture where where students feel safe, supported, and connected to their peers and teachers. There are strong relationships, a sense of community pride, and attention paid to students social and emotional well-being to help create an environment where the majority of students feel included and motivated to learn. 77 people did mention that in an open-ended response. So, those

027are the good things happening and I don't think the board is surprised by any of those. Moving on to the challenges, we're going to have a few more of the next five years. A lot of people, 352, had answers relating to finance. Number one challenge identified in the survey is that the district faces significant financial challenges related to budget shortfalls, rising costs, debt obligations, and uncertainty around securing adequate funding. Ongoing budget constraints are creating pressure to make difficult decisions that may affect staffing, programs, class sizes, and the district's ability to maintain educational quality. that is top of mind for people that took the survey. The second challenge is on page 15. This theme was identified by 227 people. It's that you're experiencing declining and fluctuating enrollment which contributes to larger class sizes, funding pressures, and

028complex planning decisions around staffing and facilities. Retaining students amid alternative education options also remains a central concern to maintain stability and program quality. That was the second highest concern. You can see a lot of quotes below there as well. And page 17 has the third theme of the challenge. The district in Brainer is experiencing staffing challenges related to recruiting and retaining qualified teachers and support staff amid workload demands, compensation concerns, and declining morale. That's on page 17. We have another concern on page 18 that is increasing concern related to student behavior, safety, and mental health needs. The growing intensity of social emotional challenges is affecting learning environments and staff capacity to effectively support all students. 138 people committed to that one. Now I think we have one more challenge and that's on page 20. So

029we do tend to see more themes emerging around challenges and around things that are great because there's a lot of concerns that are top of mind right now. So on page 20, uh the last challenge at least that emerged as a pattern is that there are some concerns about academic performance including declining test scores, curriculum alignment, and the effectiveness of instructional approaches. There's a strong desire for consistent science-based curriculum, higher academic standards, and better supports to ensure all students are learning and achieving at high levels. 91 people pointed to that. Then there is a question. The third question open-ended was what does the next superintendent need to know about the history of the district and community in order to succeed? The number one theme here is that um survey respondents expect a superintendent who is

030visible, approachable, and grounded with a strong commitment to transparency and relationship building. They feel successful depend on understanding the community's diverse values, communicating clearly and leading with integrity while keeping students and learning at the center of their decisions. That was the number one thing that emerged with again about a page and a half to two pages of comments of what that means. Then there was another one closely behind that says the superintendent should know that Brainer is a close lit close-knit, largely rural and conservative area with deep local pride, strong traditions, and wide socioeconomic differences. It is also a divided community with varied perspectives and high expectations that leaders respect local values while ensuring all students and families are supported and included. Again, I don't think that comes as a surprise to anyone on the

031scoreboard. And then this might be the last. Oh, we have two more things. Three more things that they need to know. Oh, there's quite four more things. Wow. Okay. People also feel that they need to understand the community has a strong history of academic excellence and pride on its schools. I'm on page 25 now. U with an expectation that education remains focused on high standards, core knowledge, and life skills. Many want the district to return to a clear, consistent curriculum while balancing academics, enrichment opportunities, and preparation for life beyond graduation. We get to next page 26. It says that respondents also want the next superintendent to be aware of the complex dynamics of the school board, including differing perspectives and challenges. Successfully navigating these relationships with transparency, collaboration, and a clear focus on students and

032staff will be extremely important for the district. On page 27, another thing that people felt the next superintendent needs to know is that the community has a strong history of pride, involvement, and support for its schools. With many community members willing to rally behind students and educators, trust, visibility, and collaborative leadership are seen as key to sustaining that support moving forward. And then the last one on page 29 is the theme that emerged from this question that the next superintendent should understand staff are deeply committed. age 29 deeply committed, collaborative, and have gone above and beyond for students, but they are feeling increasingly stretched, under supported, and affected by turnover and budget pressures. Listening to educators, evaluating their expertise, and prioritizing staff support and stability are essential moving forward. So, lots of themes in terms

033of what the superintendent should know. The last question was, what else do you want to tell us? And there was only one thing that really goes to the top on that. All the people said, "In general, um, we want a strong, experienced leader who brings a clear vision, listens to staff and families, and is willing to make and stand by difficult decisions. A long-term commitment, effective communication, and a consistent focus on student, staff, and district improvement are especially important." And then you can see all of the um comments under that area as well. And I know it's a lot of information and I went through it kind of quickly that we just have so many decisions to make today relative to the information that's been gathered that I did move kind of quickly. So I

034hope that was okay with the board. Uh let's see. How do I stop sharing? Am I still sharing? No, stop sharing. Okay, first question I'm going to ask the board. Um thanks again for letting me go through that kind of quickly. Um, do you hear the voices of your constituents in that retreat? Because you are six elected people um who worked for the people who put you in those chairs. Does anyone not hear the voices of the people that you visit with or that you regularly about schoolboard business? [clears throat] >> Feels pretty accurate. >> Yeah. And I [clears throat] feel like the people that responded really took their time to um respond in an honest, thoughtful way. >> Yeah, there's a lot of comments. >> It's pretty nice that it's pretty much in line

035with what we picked out, too. >> I mean, we we had our wish list and theirs came in about the same. >> Okay, good. So, no one was surprised by anything in here or caught off guard. That's always a good sign when we see alignment. It does make the search go much more smoothly than if you were completely out of step with the people that put you in office. So that's good. So all right. So yes, you heard the voices of your constituent. So then my question is um is it okay to put this report online? I always suggested I think candidates really like to hear from stakeholders in the district. So just to confirm, can we put this on the superintendent s search landing page in Brainer? >> Fine with me. >> I think

036that'd be great. >> Yep. >> Okay. Great. So, Kelly, um if you could make a note to place this report on the district landing page um tomorrow, that would be great. I know candidates are curious to see what people said and how they felt. So, all right. Thank you, board. Then the question is um if you turn to the next document, public input during the interview process. That's what it says at the top. Public input during the interview process. We always want to wait for you to make decisions about how the search is going to unfold until you've seen this report because we think making an informed decision is always better than not making it. So, you have a lot of information you've looked through before today. We just covered it again in about 20

037minutes. But the next step is for you to discuss and decide what round two interviews might look like because there is interest in people participating in round two. There was interest two years ago. So you have three primary options. Um the first option is to rely on the stakeholder summary report as the voice of stakeholders. And I would advise that you keep that next to you during the interviews and we refer back to it regularly during uh deliberations of who to bring in for interviews in the first place, who to move on to round two and ultimately who to hire. So that's one option. Second option is to create interview committees where certain stakeholder groups across the community would hold interviews with the candidates outside of the schoolboard interview. And then we'd have to have

038some mechanism for them to report back to the school board with their opinion of how those interviews went. The third option is to include um representative groups across the district in watching your interviews and providing feedback because of course your interviews are open to the public. Anyone can come and watch these interviews. But option three includes designated people that will give feedback to you on strengths and weaknesses of the finalists that you are interviewing. and we have a form and they just type in strengths and weaknesses after each interview and then we coalate that and provide it to the board before you deliberate. Those are the three options um at least at this point. There's some other things you can do during round two. Uh but these are the three based on the input from

039the stakeholder report you you could consider. Um last time a couple years ago you went with option one and relied on the survey report as voice of stakeholders. Uh we got a lot of questions during the Q&A session and I hope you've had a chance to watch that. um about how will people be involved moving forward? And so you may want to consider having some groups either interview or provide feedback to you on your interviews. The reason we wait for round two, because I got asked that as well, is it's asking a lot of members of the public or staff to participate in round one because you might have five, six or seven people. It can be anywhere from six to 10 hours of work with a big group of people. So, we usually say,

040"Let's wait for the board to winnow it down to two or three finalists and then invite public input if that's something you'd like to do." So, we're doing it in round two. I've never had a group at this point do it in round one, but that's something the board could choose if you want to. It's your search. Uh, we will do district tours during round two, and I'd work with Kelly on that. There were tours last time. I think we could model a tour similarly on that. You could not use two or three, but you could have um meet and greets in the buildings with staff, informal meet and greets. You could have sort of um coffee and conversation where people just mill around and get to know the candidates at some point during round

041two day. Um you could do a Q&A with people informally asking questions of your candidates. Um, I would want to make sure though someone from MSBA is in the room to make sure people are not asking questions that are illegal or questions that might scare off your candidates. We don't want people going rogue during a Q&A and asking things that put [clears throat] the poor light with candidates. So, lots of options and I'm going to stop talking and turn it back over to the chair to facilitate what the board might want to do moving forward. We'll support you in whatever you choose. What are thoughts on level of input we'd like to see? >> I feel like we got a lot of good answers on the survey we put out there. I think number one

042because we've got a lot of the input and the input lines with us as a board, the top ones. >> It's what we did last time. >> Yeah, that is what we did last Matter of fact, I don't think we really messed up. [clears throat] >> So, >> no, >> I think number one is fine with me, >> especially if we're only going to get down to the two candidates. It's like, well, then I don't think it's going to matter too much at the last minute like that. I think you're going to have a, you know, kind of that's how that works. You know, that's how your brain works. you're kind of gonna be like, >> "Yeah, >> Randy, >> I don't have a problem with option one." Uh, what's intriguing to me though is

043in the second round of interviews where we would have a small interview committee. If we don't do it, it's I'm not going to die on that hill. >> I'd rather if you're going to do something, I'd rather do Barb's deal where they >> they just strengths and whatever. Or the meet and greet would be fine. Meet and greet might be the best thing. >> Yeah. What I have more of a question on, and maybe this went over the top of my head, but we're going to post this search online, >> The survey. The survey. >> Yeah. Results. >> Before we do interviews, >> are you thinking that they're gonna It's the road map of how to get the job? >> It's a question that popped into my head. I mean, holy smoly, there's a lot

044of information there. >> Well, I think if our candidates take the time to really review this, that's just showing their investment in the job that they're applying for because it's available to everybody. It's not just going to be available to some. >> Okay. I mean, I I was I just kind of went brain damp, >> did we do it last time, Barb, >> put it online? >> Yeah. I I in six years, six and a half years, I've never had a board not put it online. >> You know, we talk about wanting to be transparent. You also want a candidate. >> We want to be first, too. We like to be first. You mean [laughter] you're not first, you're last. >> Yes, we did put it online last time. It's very helpful for candidates to

045read through it and then they come in. You know, we always say we're going to have interview questions that are based upon leadership profile and the stakeholder report. So, everyone's included in that. So it wouldn't be a surprise to anyone. And I think they especially want to know what your challenges are so someone doesn't come in thinking something is really wonderful. You've figured out the funding formula and you're, you know, you don't want someone coming in with unrealistic expectations. So the report's really helpful for that purpose, I think. >> Okay, I'm cool. I just kind of just went brain dead thinking. >> Yeah, I understand what you're saying. It's like I just write your write your application. >> Oh, okay. Cool. And we did it last time, so I'm Yeah. Okay. >> Pick your top

046six and be like, oh, I'm really good at this and that. John, did you have any feedback on preference for the public input in the interview process? I didn't want to miss your comment if you had one. >> Thank you. I I just unmuted my mic to uh weigh in. I like Ry's idea. I like Ry's idea of, you know, having a small committee. The problem is who who picks a committee and, you know, that kind of situation. But I think, you know, one of the things uh that I I learned from last time was that um having other I I'll say neutral people's um insight, ears and eyes is valuable. And um I like Ry's idea about having a smaller committee uh an ad hoc committee um to weigh in with uh to weigh

047in with their feelings. John, are you re are you thinking that that would be for the final two or so candidates or are you thinking for all of the candidates? >> I prefer it for all the candidates, but um I'm okay with just going to the final two or three as well. >> The you know, I love the idea that we have the survey and we're pretty aligned. I feel confident in that. The one thing I'd like to head off from last time, and you guys will probably remember this too, is the sheer number of emails and comments we got via email that were that I think we could have shuffled that through a different channel to make to make it some of them seem really loud, some of them, you know, I just felt

048like um people wanted to be heard and if that's so, they emailed directly to some of us or all of us and that probably could have been handled in a different way so that all voices were heard by all people or whatever that looked like and that people knew they had someone to go to to be their representative. >> So what does that look like Sarah? >> I don't know. I mean if that's an interview committee or if it's the um the survey >> and how would that information come back to us then or would we be a part of that? They have a form they'd fill out. According to what Barb said, >> form, >> right, Barb, there's a form that they would fill out. Um, >> if you choose option three, we usually

049use one on strengths and weaknesses. And if you have maybe eight to 10 people that are can list up to three strengths and up to three weaknesses, and they're coming from different groups, they watch your interview and provide input on that. We could use that same form with a separate interview committee. then they all individually sort of type up the strengths and weaknesses they noticed in their interview >> and then you see that data. You also could um use an EMD form with that committee. So, for example, if you had an interview committee and you had 10 people on it, um one, we'd have to work with them to come up with questions to make sure that they obey the law as well because there's those parameters that we're going to get to in a

050minute about the questions you can and cannot ask. they could just fill out that exceeds meets disappoints form for the last two or three people and that's the data that we give to the board is hey here's the EMD form for all three people that the inter you know from the interview that was held this morning um by this ad hoc group so you could do the EMD form or you could do the uh strengths and weaknesses um or you could ask that group to come up with one position and 10 people try to come up with one position in terms of we felt this was strong for her, we felt this was strong for him and then just one person reports to the board verbally as well. The challenge with a separate interview sometimes

051is um people might perform very differently in their interview with the board than they do with the ad hoc committee. >> Maybe they're more relaxed with the ad hoc committee because it's not being recorded or maybe they just are comfortable with a group of educators or parents or whomever. And so it's a great interview and then people the same people come interview with a school board and they don't do very well >> and or vice versa. They don't do well in that small group interview because it's private. Nobody's watching that interview but those five or 10 people, right? And then they come into the board interview and they just blow it. But that committee wants you to hire that person because the the interview went so well. So expectation management is going to be very

052very important that everyone understands the role of this committee. If it's a separate interview that it's an advisory capacity that they're not telling the board who you should hire. Don't invite them to tell you rank them one, two, and three because what if you hire the third candidate that they liked and they wanted you to hire the other person. They're never going to forgive you for hiring the other person. So expectations. So it's people to spend time on it. You need to be really careful that you're being fair to them. >> Okay. >> Need to do it. >> But if they I'm sorry. >> Thanks. >> But if we if if they if they're watching the same interview process, we don't do a separate interview with that ad hoc group, >> right? >> Um then

053>> with option three, correct? >> Yeah, option three. >> Option three. I think that I mean >> I like that better than doing a separate just having them give feedback on what they saw during the same interview we saw. And like again, I'm not going to die on the hill if we don't do it. I just >> pretty sure I I don't know. But to me, it's like the last time we did this, I just think it's a lose-lose. >> No matter what you do, you're going to upset somebody. We've been elected. We'll get plenty of feedback. There was no shortage of feedback if you remember right. So, we're going to know what a lot of people think. Um, it's not like anyone's squashed or we're going to do this all in the dark in

054a closet where no one can see what we're doing. I don't know why we would want to. It's like Barb said, someone's going to be mad if they rank that one number three. And you we all think it's the best choice. >> You know, I I don't know. And I I don't know who in the public um staff, parents, whoever have the intricate knowledge of the finances and the situ all the things that we have with all the information that we get to see. We should be more knowledgeable. >> Yeah. >> Um and be able to make better decisions because we're the ones that have access to all the information. I know it's all public information, but who's got time to spend a couple three years trying to figure this stuff out? You know, it's

055not an easy deal. So, I I'm a number one. Um, I guess if you guys want to do the plus and minus thing, I could live with that, but I'd rather just I like the fact it's only five or 10 people. I I certainly wouldn't want to get into the game. What about the You know, Michelle mentioned the coffee the meet and greet thing. Did we do that last time? >> I don't think so. >> How does that work, Barb? >> That's just an opportunity to come meet the candidates. >> Yeah, just a chance. Um, it it'll all be built into that same day. And I know it's tough with people with the commitments they have to jobs or teaching classroom. It's hard to find a time, but sometimes you just let a candidate wait

056in a room, three different rooms if there's three candidates, and they just stay in that room for a couple of hours and people can drop in and visit with them. Members of the public can drop in. >> Um, teachers between classrooms could drop in to say hi. >> And then it's just an interaction, not providing input. So, you got to be really careful. Are you allowing them to interact with the finalists or are you allowing them to provide input on the finalists? That's sort of the big differentiation. >> I like that. I love that idea because I feel like that gives candidates a running head start for whoever's chosen that they've >> they've had opportunity to meet some people, make some relationships >> and people >> the public just moves between the three meeting rooms

057and >> well it's that you know they can talk. >> We say the public it's how many people you think we're talking about? Would there be more than three there at the same time? Four or five? I mean people aren't that they got to >> order. You never know. >> Yeah. But it's not going to be like 50. No, it's not going to be for >> if it was, that'd be a bad situation >> for the candidate. >> I mean, it'd be like overwhelming. Barb, do you ever see people that kind of like, you know, I don't know that I need that job that bad that would back out from having this kind of a situation? >> I mean, >> I don't know, but I would think some people might be like, I got to

058sit there for two, three hours now and deal with all that stuff. I mean, >> yeah. Um, it did happen once in a Q&A where an audience member started to grill someone about something and it was it felt like an attack and it didn't feel like they wanted to work there anymore. >> Yeah. >> So, it just depends on how >> I don't know well behaved and positive because you're trying to make a good impression on these people as well because they do have other places they could go work, right? So, it just depends how much >> looseness you want around the process that people It's good for people to get to know them, but it's hard to do that in a a meet and greet when there's, you know, you'll probably have seven to

05915 people, but maybe they all come at once and then 15 people stand in line trying to shake the hand and look in their eyes. But, it's hard to gauge that. The the one that does cause me some worry are the Q&As's where we set them down for an hour and say, "Show up at three o'clock to ask questions of >> Jon Jones." we've done. >> That gets a little diceier than just the one, but we can the end of the day if you want us to. >> Let's [clears throat] just keep it under control and just I would do I I'm just go back to one like we did last time. I think everything went pretty well. We had a pretty good feel for all the candidates. >> Um [clears throat] we got a

060lot of input from the public. >> So, if we were to go with number one, what is the uh process for the public to give feedback? is they're just like they did before just >> they would just email us. I'm sure email us or >> we'll announce their or two or three candidates and they can do their research on them and >> their stuff >> and just encourage them to reach out to us if they have strong opinions. >> Would it make sense to create a portal for all those people to send it to one address so we don't we don't get unendated ourselves individually. because you're getting into open meeting stuff and >> I don't remember. >> We can't have a portal that we all go to. >> No. >> Yeah, >> we can't

061do that. We'll just manage. >> No, it's [snorts] a meeting. >> Yeah, >> just a question. >> Well, yeah. >> I did have a board one time request an online form that anybody after watching, I don't know, round one or reading their bios or doing social media sweeps, anyone could provide input into a form that MSBA had set up. It was a great idea. So, ideas versus implementation. It was a great idea. What happened though is there became a campaign against a candidate and so there was probably 600 comments in this particular form. I'd say 70 to 80 were legitimate. The rest was a concerted campaign against somebody to sway the vote. And so the the data was useless. >> Um you could tell it was being spammed by people that didn't want that person

062and it was consistently the same negative comments and so it was not useful data. It was just a free-for-all that didn't work. So, we have to be very careful of that as well. >> I guess >> that's good advice. >> Um, it sounds like we're leaning towards one. Randy, would you be >> optional >> okay with that? >> Yeah. I mean, I was just trying to >> John, are you comfortable with that? >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah, let's just go with the >> Yes. Yeah, let's do it. >> The information we've been given and encourage people to reach out and we probably don't need to make this decision now, but it would be great to have a meet and greet once we've selected that person to have him come back. Oh yeah, I love that. >>

063Barb, can you remind me >> how does how does round one go? Round one, we let all the names out and people come and people can watch it on TV and the whole deal. >> Or is that just round two? >> Yes. >> We're going to talk specifically about that when we get to the schedules. But yes, last time you chose not to live stream the interviews, but you did record them, [snorts] right? >> And then whoever you selected to move on to round two, I believe you posted those two or three interviews, but you didn't post all five. I can't remember the open. It's an open meeting. So, if people are interested and want to come watch, they can. Yes. >> Okay. >> 100%. >> If I remember correctly, Barb, we used I think

064we did that. >> We used candidate A, B, C, and D, and >> they were nameless round. >> That's before the first round. >> You will the names will go public the night and we'll get to the um >> timeline is actually training materials that interview in round one. >> That's before we go to round. >> Okay. So, I'm hearing um yes to district tours though and I can work with Kelly to set up the district tours. uh we have a history of the hosts or ambassadors that took them around the district and all that kind of thing. That'll give an opportunity for them to see your buildings and meet the administrators in in those buildings as well. We could make those tours a little bit longer so they have more time to visit with

065folks as they walk through your buildings. Um that's very helpful I think for some administrators to get to meet and and walk around and talk about the programming in the buildings. So the district tours, can we model it on last time but make it perhaps even a little bit more robust than we did the first time? Is that okay? >> Sure. >> And you Barb, you said >> we are not looking though. >> Barb, really quick. You said that was for the round two candidates, right? The district tours, >> correct? Just >> Yep. Yep. But we're not doing um meet and greets or Q&A with staff or public or anything like that during round two. It will be the building tours and the board interview and anyone and everyone can come watch you do your

066interview. Right. >> Okay. >> The other thing [clears throat] the other thing that I think I don't remember who said it um board member is I think we always even though we get uh many many many emails I think we also have to promote people reaching out to us with their feelings or whatever. So, anything anytime we put a press release or any kind of information on the website or whatever, I think we need to highlight if you've got uh input, please reach out to all all board members. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you for that conversation. It's an important one and um you do want people to follow the process. >> It gets really tricky to decide who gets to participate. That is where board members very often say yes we want to

067do interview committ start talking about who has to be a part of those committees the whole thing does often break down it's different >> still has to go to board member >> um how many candidates do we have that have applied so far can't you >> I cannot tell you specifically because people go in and out of the pool on a regular basis they change their mind and withdraw I can tell you it's more than >> okay I think you're going to have a good pool I think when the board gets access to these applications You should be very pleased. >> I think we have 15. >> Great. Thank you. >> Interview training. That is the next item. And I hope that you have this document. >> Right. >> You have the abbreviated one to

068save some trees. So, I will just review some things with you um on my copy that's longer, but I'll I'll point out to you when it's in that abbreviated packet. Okay. Um you do have the much longer one again, remember in your email from me as well. So the first item in your packet is going to be the vacancy brochure and that includes this point of pride and the timeline and most importantly I think it includes the leadership profile on page two. That's what people are using to decide if this is a job that they feel align with them. The second document they'll now use is the uh stakeholder summary report that's going to go online tomorrow. Then the search timeline is in your packet and this is just a reminder of what's coming up.

069So on the horizon, today's meeting is January 12th. um to do the interview, training, public input report, questions, procedures. This closes midnight on the 18th of January. So that's the deadline that people have in mind. They need to upload everything by the 18th. On the 19th, we look at everything to make sure it's complete, that they've got their transcripts, lensure, everything in it. And then we give board member board members access on the 20th. This is going to be up in the cloud. It's a very easy system to use where you'll create your own username and password. I need to remind you again and again and again. However, do not look at these on your device in a public place. Please don't do it in an office where people could walk behind you. Coffee shops

070are off limits. Even your kitchen table, if someone from your family walks behind you and sees a resume, you have violated data privacy laws here in Minnesota. So, be very careful how you handle these applications. It is private data. Okay? Uh we'll meet again on January 26th at noon. I'll be joining you virtually. That is when I will be telling uh the board we're recommending candidates A, B, and C. Now, I'm going to send you that list at least two days before the 26th so you know who we're recommending. If it's a pool of 15 people, I'll have highlighted between three and six, maybe seven that we think align most with your profile and with the stakeholders, but you're going to be discussing them on the 26, being very careful with private data to talk

071about A, B, and C. When you as individuals get my list that says, "Hey, board, I'm going to be recommending these people on the 26, call me with questions." You can call me the one way. I'm not gonna respect you. You're not going to discuss it with each other, but you can call me and say, "Why are you not recommending candidate T? I don't get it. I think candidate T is great." I'll tell you why not. Or if you don't agree with our recommendation of candidate D, I'll explain why we are recommending candidate D. So, you can do that one-on-one with me. Other than that, though, you won't have any opportunity to talk about these until the 26th at the board table. That's the night that those names go public. At the conclusion of that

072meeting, whoever you've decided to interview, whether they align with our slate or not, the names go public. You then interview round one, February 2 and three. And we've got some schedules in here for you to look at and confirm, >> Barb. >> Um, yes. >> So, let's just say that that somebody loves candidate T. Is candidate T going to make the list then? >> If the board wants to. Yeah. >> Well, how does the board want to when only one person called you? because we can't talk to each other. We can't make a plan. Huh? >> It has to be a majority of the board during that board meeting. What people usually >> when that board meeting rolls around. >> We didn't have this problem before. I'm not trying to make a problem. There's not

073a problem. I'm just saying that, >> you know, if you saw somebody you really think is going to be something else. >> Yeah. Well, ask ask me and I'll tell you why we think they're not going to be someone else or something else. You know, there might be a very good reason we're not recommending that you have not had um an opportunity to look at yet, >> right? >> We we learn a lot about these people through our vetting process. We do pre-in the ones we think are strongest. We do social media sweeps. We talk to references. We're going to recommend who we think are the best of the best. But you don't have to take our recommendations. So, ask me why not. And if there's someone that one or two or three of you

074around the table, what I would suggest is that day the chair would say, "All right, MSBA is recommending these six people. How many of you agree with MSBA's slate?" And you might kind of hem and ha and say, "Yeah, I do, but I also really thought candidate D was strong." So then the chair could say, "Well, who else liked candidate D?" And if you end up with more than well, if you end up with four, you certainly can put that person through to interview. But it needs to be a majority of the board selecting who gets interviewed. Does that answer your question, DJ? >> Yep. >> Okay. All right. Uh, round two would be on February 10th. So, that'll be the day of the district tours, and you're starting your interviews at 2:00 that day.

075So, the tours will start in the morning. Um, but you'll have two or three interviews on February 10th. If it goes well that night, you're going to select someone to make an offer to and start negotiating on February 11th. Hopefully sometime in February you can approve a contract with someone. But keep in mind you can pause this search at any time. So for example, when the application deadline closes on fee uh January 18th when we meet on January 26, if you as a board say, you know, I think there's one or two good people, but I'm disappointed in this pool. If you want to as a board, if the majority of you want to reopen the search and post it for two more weeks, we can do that. You do not have to pick people

076on January 26. So you decide if you pause reopen. You decide whether there's anyone in the pool you want to interview. You can decide after round one to start all over and reopen it. You can decide after round two like last time. So you're going to have options at every step of this process to do what's best for Brainard Public Schools. But right now, this is the plan. Any questions on the dates? >> Okay. I have a qu I have not a question on the dates, but um so if we have questions about a candidate um why or why not they're being recommended, we would talk with you personally about that. >> Yes. >> Because I'm guessing we wouldn't talk about that on January 26th when we have the our special meeting. Correct. >> Correct.

077>> Due to data privacy and all that kind of stuff, >> right? Yes. Okay. All right. >> It's a very frustrating meeting for for people who are watching because we are being so cryptic >> in our conversations. We're trying not to use he or she. We're not going to say that they're, you know, gosh, they're superintendent of pick a district, right? We're not going to say that. We try to avoid anything identifiable because if there's an identifiable piece of information shared in public and people figure out who you're talking about, you have violated data privacy laws. >> Okay? So it's a very vague meeting, but [clears throat] that's just the way it is. Discussing private data in a public meeting is tricky. You cannot close a meeting to talk about these candidates. So you have

078to do it in an open meeting. >> So Barb, um with the round one and [snorts] for the two days on the 2nd and the 3rd of February, are those being uh put out there on YouTube? No, >> they're they're not going to be telecast or broadcast, but people can be in this room. Public can be in in the uh board uh room. Correct. >> You can do whatever you like. You could live stream them. >> I recommend not live streaming everybody because the person who interviews last will know what all the questions are. >> Right. Right. Right. >> However, uh one consideration is um John will probably be joining virtually. So, if he joins virtually, if someone asks for the link, you have to provide it to them to watch because a board member

079is on virtually. If someone wants to join the meeting, and Kelly, you can confirm because I know you've talked to Terry Mororrow about this several times, but if a board member is joining virtually, you don't have to live stream it, but if someone says, "Hey, I know someone's watching this virtually. I want that link." So, one of the competitors or one of the candidates could ask for the link and watch all of the interviews. I don't know that they would, but that's just one more thing to think about as well. You could record them if you want to, and that's what you did last time is you recorded all maybe there were five. I think you recorded all five and you only move forward two or three people. >> So, you did put up on

080your website those two or three interviews. And then after round two, if you had selected someone, you had planned to put that one person's interview, if you'd selected them up. But you you um I think a professional courtesy was the term as a professional courtesy. >> Yeah. >> You don't have to put everybody's interview up forever because these people have careers to think about and putting those interviews up there forever. It's just it's not a very nice thing to do sometimes to make them live with it forever up there. So you were cautious in how you shared those interviews and only those moving forward went online. So people could watch them if they can't come to the meeting. Right. >> If somebody >> Go ahead, Johnny. >> Thank you. If somebody requests the link um

081do we as board members uh can we as board members know who that is? >> I don't think so because um anybody can be anything from any it could say iPhone number two and that's who you're sending the link to. >> Okay. >> Yep. Well, we're not >> okay. We'll talk about that more too when we talk about the schedules. But other thoughts on this because it is a little bit unique. But the other option is to make all of the questions public to everybody. >> No. >> So it doesn't matter who watches these interviews in what order. >> No. >> Okay. Okay. Any other timeline questions? >> All right. So then in your packet, you do have a page called relevant law. I have a lot more packets about this or in my bottom

082line is common sense. You cannot ask questions about protected classes. So, please don't. There are things you cannot consider or ask around gender, race, age, national origin, all of the things that you have in here on relevant law. You are an EEOC required um or excuse me, compliant district. So, there's a lot you cannot ask. And I don't think you need to ask some of these things because there's a lot in here. This would apply to your follow-up questions also. For example, if you are interviewing candidates and someone answers it, [snorts] you can ask a follow-up question to clarify. For example, maybe they used an acronym that you didn't understand. So, you say, "Hey, could you please explain what you mean by ABCD(xy)?" Yeah, but I would prefer you not ask follow-up questions to say

083tell me more about that or you said this and I want to know what you meant by that at least in round one because we want all the candidates to get the same questions and if one candidate gets an opportunity to answer a lot more because you probe deeper as board members. Um that's not quite fair to all of the candidates. But we can talk about round two being a little looser this year as well if you want to probe deeper on some things from round one. But generally speaking, protected classes are very easy. Just don't ask questions that are about things that you don't have any right to consider. And the list of them are in this packet. So I think that's going to be kind of a no-brainer for them. >> So we

084can ask if they're a US citizen. >> Ask that. >> I don't think we want to end up in the de mo deal. >> I know. Wasn't that >> Are you going to check that out in the background checks? Are you going to make sure they're citizens? >> You know, that's interesting because um what's that form? I'm not an HR person. Um, you know how when someone has to bring in a passport or social security card or driver's license, >> that is not something that the search firm or the background check company can do. That can only be done by the employer. So, the employer, the I9 verification, you can do no I-9 verification except the employer. So, you could potentially hire someone, do the I-9 verification through your HR hoops. They might bring in

085a social security card and a passport. That's where it fell apart, I think, in that circumstance is they were valid and so they checked the box eligible to work in the United States of America. But that's an employer process, not a background check process. >> Okay. >> So, it's it's a systemic issue, I think, because there are people that are not eligible to work in the US, but they do have a social security card or they do have a passport. And so it's it's complicated and I think it's brought to light some concerns the districts have about the I-9 employee verification process. >> And Barb, >> there's someone gonna answer for you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I mean uh most every employment application asks the question, are you legally authorized to work in the

086United States? And that's that is a permissible question. So I think that can >> I didn't know it was a protected class. >> What's that? >> Well, these are all protected classes, you know, >> right? But that question is not a protected class question. I think so. >> You can ask that about are they legally authorized to work in the United States. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Jason. >> Thank you. And that question is in the application. That doesn't mean people will tell the truth. [laughter] >> Check a box and say yes. You know, >> and there's a question that says, "Have you ever been asked for a job?" >> Nope. Okay. >> I don't know how truthful people are in some of these applications, but the questions are asked. So, um,

087the policies are not in the abbreviated packet because they're just the followers, and we've gone over these several times. Private and personnel data that only the finalist names go public. And the definition of a finalist is someone who's going to be interviewed by the school board. So, your semi- finalist names go public because you are interviewing those people. So the policies around open meeting law and public and private data were not printed in your packet because it's not necessary. Um I think last time I did mention that you cannot consider residency as a criteria because a superintendent is just like a um teacher in this regards in that they do not have to live within the bounds of the districts to be your superintendent. So you cannot ask them are you going to move here?

088Are you going to live in the bounds of the district? Because that's according to statute, not required. Also, you shall let me know if you're related to anybody in the pool, please. Because if you are related to someone in the pool within the fourth degree, then it needs to be a unanimous vote of the full board. Not five out of six, not five out of five at the meeting, but whoever is there. It full board unanimous. If you are related to somebody, and education is a small world. It's happened to me two or three times. um in the last two years. So, just let me know if you are related to someone. All right? Just little things like that that are necessary in your big packet. Um the common interview mistakes on page 28 in

089your abbreviated packet. These you will not make, and I'm not going to beat a dead horse and talk at length, but you have a leadership profile, so you know what you're looking for. Um you know you need to make a good impression, so please don't ask inappropriate questions or make people uncomfortable in their interview because you might have a [clears throat] out candidate that changes their mind after the interview that they're no longer interested. Sometimes that happens. Um, remember they are interviewing you just like you're interviewing them. Uh, same thing for all of your stakeholders. People during the tours hopefully will put on their best behavior hat and be very good representatives of the district. I'm sure they will. Notes number eight on that page. All of your notes will need to be turned into

090your HR representative after the speech. So your notes are subject to a data request and that includes your notes on the candidates applications. It includes your notes during the interviews. So keep them all together and when the search is all said and done, you turn them in. They'll keep those notes in accordance with data retention policies. They're different based upon if someone applied versus if they were interviewed versus if they were hired. different lengths of time, but do turn those in and make sure you're not writing anything down that is a protected class just because you want to remember who they are. Don't jot down um older white guy or um crucifix necklace. [laughter] Don't, you know, don't jot down pregnant. Don't write down anything that makes you remember who they are if it's a

091protected class. Write down other things. what they say. What they say is most important in those interviews, not what they look like and the bias that you might have based upon what they look like. All right, we got a lot to do. So, I'm going to whip through a couple more things. We have the bias training in here, too. The biggest ones we see in Superintendent Search are gender bias. And for example, we had a board, and I know I shared this with you, where they interviewed two finalists, a man and a woman. The man got done and they were talking about him, and they said he was a direct communicator, straight shooter. I think he'd do really well in this district. About a half hour later, they were talking about the female candidate and

092the same exact board member said, you know, you're very direct. Seemed like a straight shooter, but I don't think that's going to go over well in this community. It's gender bias thinking that men be direct and aggressive and assertive and women cannot. Women should be nurturing and soft and all. That's just something we want to be very careful of in the process is gender bias, age bias. Just because someone's older doesn't mean that they are technologically disadvantaged. We've had younger people that don't want to tweet and older people who are prolific tweeters. So, don't let age get in your way. Don't let geography get in your way. Uh we see this fairly often with people from the metro that want to work in greater Minnesota or people in the greater Minnesota that want to work

093in the metro. People have a decision about them already made before they've even looked at their application materials because they're they work in Minneapolis public schools. I am not interested. Well, who knows? They might have grown up in Brainard. Maybe they want to get back to their roots and maybe they're a small town person at heart. So, don't let geographic bias get in the way. And lastly, there's a familiarity bias. Um, you will know some of these people in your pool because they may be in the district or around the district in neighboring districts. You'll know who they are. You recognize some names. Don't dismiss them and don't want to decide to hire them just because you're familiar with them. let them go through the exact same process as everybody else so that that doesn't

094get in the way. Okay, that's all I need to say about bias. It's just something to be aware of that we as individuals make assumptions about people based on what they look like. You're human. That's how we we all believe that when we keep people a certain deliberation scenarios um you can read through these but the gist of it is if you are stuck and you are locked at a three tie and sometimes it happens. One good thing to do is go back to the leadership profile and individually rate those last two people on that leadership profile. Go back to that stakeholder report. Rate them based on the stakeholder report. You can also um call a recess, especially if things start to get heated. I always say I recommend the chair just gave a 10-minute

095recess just to go out, take a walk, get a drink of water. Just make sure that you are working together toward what's best for the students in Brainer Public Schools. Please don't dig in your heels. Um be open to everyone else's opinions. You are a governing board of six. You are also six people with very different opinions. And we want you to hopefully come out of this with a 60 vote. You don't have to. A majority could hire someone. If four or five people on the board want to hire someone and one or two people do not, you can still hire them. And that's up to you. Once in a while, we've seen people who are on the minority side of a decision change their vote in order to have a unanimous vote because of

096the message it sends to the community, to the staff, and to the candidate that we are all behind you. even those of us who just argued for a different candidate 10 minutes ago. That's up to you if you want to do that or not. Um but a majority of people can hire the [clears throat] candidate. It doesn't have to be unanimous. It is simply a good idea. Um because this is a huge hire. Any questions on those kinds of voting requirements or suggestions? The candidates turn. The only thing it says in here is that I'll tell you they're getting better and better at asking stuff and they they did it two years ago, too. People ask some very pointed questions about the um district's school board's vision about maybe your strategic plan. They may ask

097questions about finance. They may ask a question to try to find out whether you are a board that gets down in the weeds and are going to micromanage them. So I had one candidate one time ask a brilliant question that was very specific to something that was management related. and all of a sudden the whole board is talking about how much they know about that particular nuance. That candidate knew that they didn't want to work for that board because they wanted to be the CEO of the district. They wanted to be trusted to run the district. And when every member of the board seemed to understand every single thing about this little minutiae that was very management related, they knew they were going to be working with a board that would micromanage them. So they

098then declined the offer of another interview. So be careful how you ask your questions to be authentic so that you're not misleading people about who they're working for. But do try to be very aware that folks are looking for the right fit and you hopefully are the right fit for some absolutely outstanding candidates. But when they ask you questions, please speak up. We don't want to have crickets and nobody talking to them about who you are because you should be really proud of Brainer and your role on the board. So answer their questions as best you can. Barb, those questions that are asked by the candidate, are they directed to the board, not to individual board members? Correct. >> Usually the full board, but every once in a while someone will ask an individual board

099member a question. It's rare. Usually they'll say, "Well, I don't care who answers this, but what wakes you up at three in the morning? What are you most worried about in terms of the future of Brainer Public Schools?" >> And this is, >> and then the chair would be, "Wow, great question. Who wants to answer it?" And maybe two of you answer it or two or three of you. Um, do feel free to build on each other's answers so they can see you working together >> and that >> let one person and then move on. We want to have some activity. >> Is that round two interviews? >> No, they'll ask questions in round one and in round two if they have time. If they run out of time, they're not going to have time

100to ask you questions, but very often they come into round one with some pretty good questions as well. >> And I would assume the protocol there when the question is asked, it goes to the chair and then the chair looks for people that want to answer it or the chair answers it to start with and then we could add to whatever. >> Okay. I just Yep. >> I want to kind of get protocol there. Okay. >> Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Now, some of you will do reference checks. You're welcome. Uh one of you maybe or two of you might do some reference checks as well. Um, we'll talk about that when it gets closer. But the idea of a board member making a few calls to ask about your finalists is really positive

101because it shows you've done your due diligence. And people will tell you things that they haven't told the search firm. Um, for one, we can't call references before round one um or before the when we recommend people to you. We've called references they provided to us. We can't pick up the phone and just call someone about somebody because what have we done if we do that? we've outed their candidacy before their name is public. So, we're a little hamstrung with the people we can talk to about your applicants when their names are private data. Once their names are public, we can start digging deeper. But board members, please don't be making a whole bunch of reference check calls until we're looking at the finalist, maybe two or three people, and then we'll talk about who's

102going to make those calls and what questions you're going to ask. And there are people more comfortable sharing with you honestly what they think than what they have told the search firm. They're a little more hesitant to share with us their true thoughts. >> And names don't become >> names don't become public until round two. >> Round one. >> One. Okay. [snorts] >> January 26, you'll make a motion to interview candidates BC. >> We talk about them at the meeting. >> When I meant public, their names are not in in the first round. Their names are >> their names go public. the first list that we'll narrow down >> to our round one interviews. Like let's say we start out with 12 and we narrow it down to five. >> Okay. >> Then those five

103are going to be released for the round one. And then >> well okay then I'm um >> but let's just say let's just say there were 10 for easy. So we picked five. The other five their names will never come out. >> That's where we go ABC. >> Their category there. Yeah. Their candidate C G. >> Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. We agree on the ones we want to talk to. >> Cool. Thanks, Barb. >> Great. Yep. Thanks for clarifying that. I appreciate the chance to make sure we're doing this all clearly. Um, also in your packet, you have something called deliberating in public, and you did a really nice job of this two years ago, and I know all the board is not was not a part of that. We want to try to

104keep these conversations public because your deliberations are also open. Whether you're live streaming or recording your deliberations, you're going to make that decision as well. But people are listening to you talk about your applicants, um, your interviewees. Try to keep it positive. If someone totally tanks your interview and they just did not do a good job. There's absolutely no need to bring that up in a public meeting when you're talking about them. You can say something nice about their interview and you don't have to point out that they didn't really answer the questions I asked about finance or I was unhappy with their answer to this. So try to be positive. Um if however you get in a tie and you're trying to decide who to hire and you had three people, you can go

105to deficits if you need to because between two people for example who are excellent candidates and you just can't decide. You then can say, you know what, I think Sue's finance background is stronger than Jim's. From what I heard Jim say, I really think Sue has got a better handle on finance. So you're not being critical of him. You're just trying to differentiate between your candidates. And sometimes areas that they're not as strong in is what helps you break the tie. So that's when you can speak about it. But otherwise, try to focus on positive attributes of people that are really giving it their all to try to get this job. Uh put yourselves in their shoes and be kind. That's all we ask when it comes to this. That's all I have for interview

106training. and it was review for most of you, I realize, but you've got a big big packet in your email that you can look at and you've got this abbreviated packet. So, are there other questions about the interview process? We're going to move on to the schedule and the questions next. >> Barb, I just have one question about conflict of interest. If you've had a an extended working relationship, professional working relationship with one of the candidates, is that a conflict of interest? >> No. Right. >> Legally, it is not a conflict of interest. [snorts] It may um you may have bias for or against someone that you know really well. So, you might emotionally have some baggage, good or bad. Um but legally, no. The conflict of interest statutes mostly apply to finances. >> Okay.

107If you know you're going to hire someone who is you're paying to do something for you, then there's a financial component that yeah, that's a conflict of interest when the money is involved. >> Okay. >> Generally speaking, it's just human nature that you have some bias um of people that you've worked with or know of and that's normal. We just ask you to try to set it aside and and keep an open mind. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. The last part of the meeting is uh the interview schedule and that is in your packet as well. Here it says Brainard Public School Superintendent Search round one interview schedule. The only thing I'm want to point out here is currently we're planning on starting at noon on February 2nd and noon on February

1083rd. I've put room for six interviews here. I did put four people on the first day and two on the second because you have to be done by six o'clock p.m. on Tuesday, February 3rd. Okay. That is one of those you cannot meet between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. on that day. And I don't remember what it was. That was caucus precinct day or something like that. Yep. So, if you have six people, you should be able to start deliberations by4 to 2, 3:00, which gives you plenty of time to decide who to move on to round two. And then the second page is the February 10th [snorts] round two. Currently I have spots for three people um starting at two o'clock on Tuesday, February 10th. This is the day that they would have district tours

109as well. Um we don't know how many people you're going to interview in round one or round two. So these are just placeholders. My question for you would be twofold. Uh one, you'll see at the very bottom where I've highlighted this is what you did last time. Recordings of those selected to move on to the second round as finalists will be posted on the district website. And then I didn't update the second page, but what that would say is a recording of the loan interview selected by the board will be posted on the district website. >> Is that still how you feel? Do you want to provide those interviews on your internet for people to go watch after the fact or would you prefer we just ask people to come to the boardroom and watch

110these and that's how they're going to get their information. And then what about live streaming? Yes or no? And John saying virtually means if someone want asks for the link you must provide it to them. So I'll stop talking and let you facilitate this chair. Um the bottom little blurb I want to get clear if I can. >> Sure. So for round speaking for round one first um how do we want to address live streaming and I think we talked about that. I think we decided that we want don't want to live stream it. We do want to provide the link for people that um want it >> that go to round two >> that no >> provide the >> Oh, this is round one. So, yeah. >> Yeah. Yep. The So, the whatever finalists

111come out of round one, we would provide um video for >> Didn't we last time the Did we post the round one last time that didn't get to round two? Just the finalists or no, not at all. >> I think we only posted the ones that made it to the next round. >> Yeah, the ones that made it to round two. >> Did we even post anybody that we didn't hire? Was it we were we just going to post the one we hired? Is that what we did? >> I think we posted the two finalists that we interviewed. >> Then we didn't hire. So then >> And then we didn't hire them. So then we didn't >> Oh, then we did. >> So we didn't post >> that. No, >> I don't think we did

112>> their interview. Do you mean? No, I don't think we did. >> So then we never So they they were never posted, were they? >> Just the n they were posted that these would be these are two finalists. But >> So was there round so did we post their round one then? >> Because we held on to it until we were going to hire somebody. >> Yep. >> And that's kind of out of respect for them. >> I don't have problem. >> Yeah. I think we just posted the finalists. Yeah, I think so too. We don't need to post anything else, right? >> Is this the round twos or the round ones? >> This is the round two. We post who is in >> We post their round They make it the finals. So then

113we post their round one, >> right? We post their round one. >> Oh, I see. >> Of the two finalists that we pick >> or three or whatever it is. >> Good point. >> Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Now, you said something about live streaming and a link. >> I'm not going to live stream. >> Nope. >> But uh John has to have a link. So if somebody else wants a link, they can get it. >> But we don't >> we're not going to advertise it. >> Just John's got to dial in >> the way the rules are apparently. >> Okay. >> So I'm [snorts] kind of >> So it's selectively live streamed. >> Can I use that term? >> What? Probably not >> because anyone can join in. >>

114If they want to ask for the link to the meeting to attend it virtually, they can attend virtually. But I think we can also our position is that if somebody wants to join virtually, but we would prefer that somebody related to the um candidates out of respect for all of the candidates that they wouldn't. >> But how can you how how can you say that? >> You can't. So, but you can that could be our position is we would request that anybody live streaming is not >> Yeah, Kelly, >> one concern I have if we do the link version. Are you able to mute everybody then? >> Not with our current version, but maybe we can use Barb's SBA version. >> Yeah, >> I don't know about that. I don't know if I Well, we

115can talk, Ryan, because that's a great question, Kelly, and I wanted to make sure that what I was saying about this is accurate because I know you've talked to Terry Moore about this specifically, >> yeah, we do not want people being able to comment. So, we want to mute them >> both I think audio and video. I think we'd want to maybe move both of those. >> I don't know if I could do that on my end or not, but you and I could talk with our um IT people here at MSBA if that's something that would be helpful. >> Okay. I just want to I just want to add that u you know it's an open meeting so um anybody can come and watch the meeting. [clears throat] >> I mean you know they

116could send a wife or a husband or an aunt or an uncle or I mean it's and that happened once Barb right that a candidate showed up and listened to all the interviews. Um, so yeah, I mean I I know I'm causing some ants here, angst here, but uh re realistically anybody can show up at at any interview meeting and participate or listen. >> You bet. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, to recap, just to keep us moving here, round one will not be livereamed. People can attend virtually if they want to. We will post the two or three who whatever finalists come out of those round one. We will post their interviews online and then the final interviews we will >> the one that gets a little >> the one that gets hired. Y

117>> yeah, >> sound good. Perfect. Okay, >> that makes sense. >> Thank you for clarifying that. I will change that on the the language. Only other question is would you at some point take those down? For instance, when round two comes, would you take down the three interviews of the people who are going to be I mean would you take them down? >> Yes. >> And then >> yeah, I think we're only going to put up the ones. >> Yeah, >> we're only going to put up the ones that make round two. >> Yep. >> And then I What you're saying is is that once we pick our finalist, then go ahead and take the other ones down. >> Yes. >> Correct. And then the one person, the successful new leader that'll stay posted because

118people are going to want to see who they're going to be working with. >> Gotcha. I think that's okay. >> Fine. >> Okay. Thank you. Any questions on the schedule? Again, it's fluid based upon how many people you choose to interview, but that's that was helpful. Okay. All right. So, the last thing we want to talk about are uh interview [clears throat] questions. So, I'm gonna ask to hand out copies of some suggested questions to the board members there in person. John does have it um virtually as well. And I'm going to give you the homework and give you some time to do this individually. Um and I have one caveat in that I do have another meeting at quarter to six, but you don't need me to talk about these questions, but I just

119want to set the table for you as well. So there's a lot of questions here. I think there's a total of like 65 to 70 questions. What I'd like you to do is go through this on the hard copy and just write down yes, no, maybe, or put check marks by the ones you like or circle the ones you like or cross out the ones you don't. So, you want to do a gut check with I like that question or I do not like that question. But very quickly, just get rid of the ones or cross them out you don't like because then we're going to go back and say how many people liked question one, how many liked question two, how many like question three. That's going to be the first go through. Okay.

120There's also questions in blue and I want to thank board members that sent questions. The ones in blue were submitted by school board members. So maybe you'll go through and you'll decide that you only want to ask the questions that are in blue. Some of them are pretty lengthy and some of them would probably count for six or seven questions in and of themselves. Okay? So you might not need 12 or 15 questions because that's where we want to land. You have one hour interview with these people and you want to leave a little time at the end for them to ask you questions. So at first blush the homework is each of you I like yes no maybe myself but individually just circle the ones you like or cross out the ones you don't.

121That's the easiest way. We're going to check back in like five minutes, six minutes to see if people have been able to go through these that quickly. And if you haven't, don't feel rushed. I know you have another meeting that was going to start at 5:30, but we aren't quite going to make it. You also could recess this meeting, this special meeting. You could recess and then I could hop back on. I'll be done with my meeting by 6:30 or I could hop back on tonight at 8 n 10 o'clock to do questions. I just apologize from quarter to 6:00 to 6:30. I have to be not with you. >> Any questions before? >> Yes. This is that same deal where you just have to make these quick decisions. You can't sit and think about

122it. >> We're making this decision on the 26. the questions to be asked, >> you could talk about it on the 26th if you'd like to do that. The one request I had is um >> we want to be careful with these that they don't become public information. So if you leave the room with these questions, I always get worried that they could fall out of your briefcase seem. >> So how many questions do that? Would you rather wait this at the 26? I think we might be better equipped if that's a possibility. >> I'm going to be I'm not going to be I'm going to be zooming. >> Me, too. >> And so is you're and I am too. >> So, who Ry's going to be the only one that's here on the 26th.

123>> But that's okay. I like the idea of [laughter] >> I like the idea of her coming back and we just get it done today. >> Oh, do Oh, you do? Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Tonight. Except she said she could come back at 6:30 or come back at 8. I mean, we might as well just get these questions >> and we all have to be together or we can't just send these puppies to you and you can do your well you all >> talk about it at the board table cryptically again because we obviously don't want to give out all the questions. But sometimes someone says I just have to read this question out loud and that's fine. But whoever is watching this meeting or watches the recording will then know a question

124or two. It's It's not a perfect system, but um >> he's gonna >> How would you like to proceed? So, you can tell me. >> Can't be in public. Yeah. >> Um >> my go We can make them all public if we want. Yeah. >> My concern is I hate making rush decisions because when you make rush decisions, sometimes they're not good decisions. That's all I'm going to say. >> But can we take these questions with us then? As long as you don't lose them. >> Yes. As long as you don't let anybody see them. >> Is that okay, Barb? If we move this out to the 26. >> It's completely okay. This is a board decision. If you trust one another to keep these questions confidential, because I had given Kelly direction to collect

125them and shred them after the meeting. If you trust each other as board members not to share these with anybody else, yes, take these with you. Take your time. Do yes, no, maybe. and let's come back on the 26th and vote about it then. So, you do what you want to do. If you trust one another, I trust you're into. >> Okay. >> How many questions are we looking at total? Uh, Barb, >> 10 to 15. If it's more than 15, you won't get through an hour. >> Okay. >> But for example, if you want you want us all to pick 10 to 15. >> Well, take a look at the second to last page under miscellaneous. >> I think our final decision is 10 to 15, right? >> Okay. Question question 43 is not

126one question. It's four questions in one, >> right? >> Question 44 is seven questions >> in one. >> Holy smoly. [laughter] >> Question 45 is six questions in one. So you could not you could pick question 43, 44, and 45 and that's enough. That that would be you're all probably at 15 already there. But you just want to get to know these people well enough. And these are primarily round one questions, but if you find someone you really like to take a deeper dive because there was one suggested that's a round two question and I think I called that out when I typed it up at the bottom of yeah page 40 question 46 was submitted as a round two question because t typically round two are questions that go deeper more specific. Maybe some

127of these should be round two questions. So, we just wanted you to have questions by leadership profile category and by stakeholder report. The last page includes questions based on your stakeholder report that didn't bubble up as much in your leadership profile and board member submitted questions. So, yes, if you all want to spend the next two weeks looking at these individually, please choose the ones you really like. If you can choose 10 to 15, great. Do you want to do you want to give every person a task to pick 15 or do you want to just say pick your favorite questions and leave it open-ended? >> That's up to you. >> So at least 10 to 15 questions uh for round one and we're going to we're going to pick questions for round two separately.

128>> Correct. After the after the round one interviews, I'll give you another list of questions for round two that we have to do that night. >> Gotcha. >> Those are going to be deeper, but these are usually just round one questions. >> Right. Thanks for the clarification, Barb. >> Thank you. You bet. Thanks for asking. >> So, could someone summarize for me what's going to happen now with these questions so that I know >> so >> and you all are on the same page? >> Yes. So, we're going to take these back with us with us and and not share them anywhere and we are going to read through them and pick our 10 to 15 favorite and then when we meet on the 26th we'll have an opportunity to compare and contrast with a

129group. Does that work? Yep. >> Okay. Wonderful. Well, then I have nothing more for you tonight unless you have other things about the superintendent search that I can answer for you. >> Well, to Randy to Ry's point, these questions can be either round one or round two. I mean, we don't have to go to a separate sheet or whatever. >> But we're going to get separate round two questions though, John. Two, >> but if there's something in here you like. >> Yeah, but you're right. Some of them say they're for round two, actually. Yeah, Barb, I just have one more thought. As we're reviewing um applications or resumeumés, um is there a rubric that's helpful to look at to narrow it down or is it just basically kind of our our emotional reaction to the

130candidates's information? >> That's a great question. We have tried creating rubrics for board members to use and it was unsuccessful because board members are so different from one another. >> You just it's usually a gut feeling. But what I will say when you start looking at the applications, don't try to read the entire application. It's really long. Okay. What I would do is I do I'd go through everybody at first and I would read their cover letter. I'd look at their resume. I'd read their answers to those three questions that you asked in the application. and I'd read their letters of recommendation. >> Okay, >> for me, those are the big four. Cover letter, resume, answers to the district specific questions, and their letters of recommendation. When I do that, I put them in a

131yes, no, maybe pile. I immediately know there's some that I want to talk to. I immediately know there's some that are just not ready for this job. Then there's a bunch in the middle. the may I go through with much more detail and then I start looking at transcripts and then I start looking at their you know things that are their I don't lure whatever you can look at a lot more on the may but ultimately try to tip them into a yes or a no but don't spend you know an hour on every applicant or you're going to get exhausted and you won't remember the first applicant by the time you look at the 15th. So take a highle overview and it's going to be your gut. It is going to be your gut

132at first. We are also comparing it directly to your leadership profile. And that is one rubric people have said is helpful. If they get stuck on whether or not they want to interview someone, they do pull out that leadership profile and go yes, yes, yes, no, okay, no. And that they use that as the guiding light. So do use the leadership profile and pull out this report and remember what mattered to your staff, remember what mattered to your uh parents, your students. That also helps you decide how to move people forward or not because those are the two documents we're using more than anything. >> All right. What were those four >> what were those four key things again you you mentioned? Cover letter, >> resume, >> cover letter, resume, answers to the questions, and

133letters of recommendation. Thank [clears throat] you. >> Those are my favorite four things, but some of you might want to really enjoy looking at their educational history and seeing where they went to school and where they got where they got their degree and what year they got a degree in. I mean, that kind of stuff is there for you to look at if you need to. All right. I'm excited for you and your pool. I think you've got good people that are interested in this opportunity. And um I look forward to the 26th because that night not only will we recommend the people but we will be deciding on the interview questions. And I want to thank you in advance for keeping those questions protected. I really truly appreciate that is not something we very

134often do. We usually try to do it at the board table and be done so that you don't have to haul them around in your briefcase or your purse or anything. So be careful with that. Do not talk to one another about those questions either. Let's have that conversation on the 26th. Okay. >> Thank you Barb. Appreciate it. Thanks, Barb. >> Thank you, Barb. >> Good to see you all for everything and reach out anytime if you have questions. Okay, I'm around. >> Great. Thank you. Take care. Bye. Bye. >> All right, we need a motion to adjourn. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second. >> We've got a motion in a second. Any discussion? If not, we'll do a roll call vote. >> Stephanie Edman, >> here. >> Yes. >> Randy Hidman, >> yes.

135>> Sarah Spear, >> yes. Don Ward, >> yes. >> Joe Breen, >> yes. >> DJ Doninger, >> yes. All >> in favor? >> All right, let's adjourn this meeting. Let's take a um five minute. Does that cover it? >> Yeah. >> Recess and then we'll start the organizational meeting. And sorry folks, we're running a little bit late. And then after the organizational meeting, we'll start the regular meeting. Sound good? 48. We'll call this meeting to order and we'll start with a roll call, please. >> Michelle Breen >> here. >> Dier >> here. >> Stephanie >> here. >> Randy Hidman >> here. >> Sarah Spear >> here. >> John Ward >> here. >> Thank you. >> We don't have to do that. do the pledge of allegiance. >> We already did it. >> But it said

136in our thing, >> whatever. We can do it. I don't think >> Yeah. Let's do it one more time. [laughter] >> Here we go. Yeah. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> [snorts] >> Give the attendees an opportunity to All right. This meeting of the Briner School Board is being conducted in accordance with Minnesota statutes 13B.02. This is meeting is being recorded. Access to the recording is available on the school district's YouTube channel. Look for a motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> So moved. >> I'll second. We've got a motion by Director Heidman, a second by Director Breen. Any discussion? If not, we'll do a roll call vote. >> Randy Hidman.

137>> Uh, yes. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Joe Breen, >> yes. >> Don, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. All >> in favor? >> Thank you. Uh, we have in here to re review re of the nominations and election of officers procedures. That's policy number 202 and our board and organization. So hopefully you had a chance to review those a little bit before we started today and then we'll move on to a nomination for elections for our 2026 officers and we'll start with chairp person. Are there any nominations? >> I would like to nominate >> Madam Chair. >> Oh, sorry. >> Hang on. Stephanie Osaki. >> I'd like to um nominate um David for chair. >> David. Thank you, BJ. >> We've got Director Dondelinger as a nomination.

138Any other nominations? >> Madam Chair? >> Yes. >> I'd like to nominate Sarah Spear as chair. [snorts] >> We've got two nominations. Are there any further nominations? Any further nominations? All right. If not, um, we will do a roll call vote. And in doing so, in your vote, you will you'll specify who you would like to vote for. And we've got two um folks on the ballot. We've got Director Dondelinger and Director Spear. And we'll do a roll call vote. >> Sarah Spear. >> John Ward. >> Sarah Spear. >> Bill Breen. >> Sarah Spear. >> DJ Dondelinger. DJ Doninger, >> Stephanie Edman, >> DJ Doninger, >> Randy Heidman, >> Director Doninger. >> We've got a tie vote. We will um come back to this. We can't move on with our slate of um officers until

139we have a chair because it might interfere with who we would choose for the rest of the slate. So, we will come back to this at the end of the meeting and take another vote. All right, moving on to the approval of the designation of the official depository. Authorization of the use of fax signatures, which I love that we still do that. Authorization of the superintendent of schools or the director of business services to invest surplus funds. Authorization of the superintendent of schools or the director of business services to approve and confirm grants. Authorization of the superintendent of schools or director of business services to execute contracts and work agreements under $100,000 as per Minnesota state statute 123b.52 subdivision 2 approval for authorization of director of business services and accountant to be delegated to electronically

140transfer funds for the district and approval of the the financial condition of the district resolution. >> So look for a motion. I I'll make a motion. >> Director Donnelinger. Thank you. I'll second director Breen for the second. Any discussion? Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote. And I would like to abstain because I'm on the board of one of those um financial institutions. So, I'll just say that out loud >> on the of the banks. >> Yeah, Mman. >> Well, I am too. Oh, do we need to do that? >> Doesn't matter to me. >> Doesn't >> I can stayain too. I guess I'm on deer woods. >> Okay, >> let's do that. I think that's safer. >> Okay. John Ward, >> yes. >> Shel Breen, >> yes. >> DJ Doninger, >> pass. >>

141Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Hidman, >> yeah. >> Sarah Spear, >> same. >> All right, motion carries. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to the approval of the designation of the official newspaper. It's our recommendation to designate the Briner Dispatch as the official newspaper for the Briner School Board for our business for 2026 as per our negotiated agreement. >> I have a question. >> Mhm. >> What does it mean by a negotiated agreement? What what negotiated agreement? >> Peter, what does that mean? Well, we don't have a negotiation with the paper increase. >> They sent us a letter. >> That's the price or something of what it cost to post the meetings and all that crap or what? >> Yeah, they just sent the letter to us as well. >> There we go. [clears

142throat] >> Is there a motion? I go and then we can discuss it. Okay. >> I'll make a motion. Sure. No, I think Randy made the motion and then you can second it or second. Yeah. >> All right. We've got a motion by Director Heidman, a second by Director Edman. Let's discuss. Any other questions? >> No. >> All right, we'll do a roll call vote. >> Breen, >> yes. >> DJ Doninger, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Heidman, >> yes. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. John Ward. >> Yes. All in >> favor. >> Thank you, Kelly. We will look for the approval of the official school district legal representation. This has not changed and um as our primary law firm representing the school district, we can retain other legal counsel at disc

143at our discretion to the extent necessary to ensure school district has adequate legal repres representation for matters requiring specific or unique expertise. So this is not exclusive. >> So moved. >> Second. All right. We've got a motion by Director Heman, a second by Director Edman, and I see we've got some questions. >> Well, I just like to get this on record for the third year in a row. It maybe it's the fourth year in a row, must be the fourth year in a row. Is that uh I think that I've got some pretty good uh advice that we should have our own um legal representation for the actual school board. Um we can we could hire them later. It isn't a panic. You know, like Peter told us last year that we just pay when

144we need these guys. So, it's not like we have to have somebody that we spent a bunch of money on, but >> it wouldn't be bad because there are certain things that can happen where you could get in trouble as a board member, not just the district. >> Not me, huh? >> Well, myself, [laughter] whatever. I don't know. >> No, I'm just I know what you're saying. Yeah. >> It's like doesn't cost anything and >> Right. >> I don't Everyone seems to think I'm crazy on this deal, but I think that you would find if you did a little research into it that it wouldn't be the worst idea. But regardless, >> yeah, I'm not opposed and I think if that comes up, >> we should look at it should um >> I I hope

145we don't get into that situation, but should it come up, it be in our interest. All right. Uh any other discussion? So basically we're saying that if we feel the need to have sort of independent um uh representation from another um legal institution besides the one the school board we would then discuss hiring them. >> Right. >> I suppose. Okay. >> I wouldn't mind just having them listed on the same list. >> That's who we have >> for ourselves. >> You know we could talk about offline. >> Yeah. and and me I mean do you have recommendations of >> well I don't today because I've tried for I did I did like four years ago but I've kind of given up um but I think that I don't think it's a bad idea you know

146you start thinking about it you can think of things that could happen >> just think of these u these uh interviews we're going to do >> if somebody's slipping you know >> so you could come after you personally >> so how would we proceed then if we can we and approve the official school district legal representation, but then at a another meeting have an agenda item. >> We decided to do it. Yeah. >> Yeah. And we don't necessarily have to have somebody named to be able to call on somebody if we need it. >> Okay. True. But do we need to have that reflected somewhere that we would like that option or >> Well, I think it it kind of u >> it is it is within the the boundaries of what's spelled out there

147to be able to retain >> other legal counsel. >> It's within [clears throat] our authority as a board to do that. >> Okay, >> perfect. >> Any other questions? Good questions. >> All right, we'll do a roll call vote. >> DJ Dundelinger. Yes. >> Stephanie Edman. >> Yes. >> Randy Hidman. >> Yes. >> Sarah Spear. >> Yes. >> John Ward. >> Yes. >> Breen. >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right. We'll do approval of the 2026 board of education compensation recommending no change um at $4,800 per year. >> Motion. >> Second. Got a motion by Director Donolinger, second by Director Edman. Any discussion? Yeah, I'd like to make a couple couple thoughts here. Um, considering that a a chair does a lot of extra work, uh, I don't think it's out of uh out of

148favor to maybe increase their compensation by $100 a month or $50 a month. Uh, and uh, and I know the work that you've done, and I know the work whoever ends up being chair, I mean, there's there's work involved. So, uh, I mean, an extra $100 a month, that doesn't seem like like much. It's it isn't, but I think it's recognition of the work that a chair person does. And that would be the only thing that I would change in compensation. But I would also [cough] like to make sure that everyone watching and here u just for point of clarification board members do not get free health insurance as part of their compensation. Swan and we also get no mileage reimbursements etc etc. So I think there was I've seen some things posted where you

149know the board gets you know free healthcare and all this other stuff and it's you know I think that changed I think about five years ago wasn't it years ago >> I think director Black Lancet brought that up at a meeting and uh they voted to eliminate that because at one point it was part of the package. I feel that the based on our financial situation within our district and um the fact that we have not um approved current contracts. I don't feel comfortable raising any sort of payment to the school board at this time. [clears throat] >> I would agree with that. Um I appreciate the the gesture being the chair right now. Um, but I I agree. >> Nope, it's not a a hill that I'm going to die on, but I thought

150I would just >> raise it. >> I understand. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> All right. Any other discussion? [clears throat] We'll look for a roll call vote to approve the current compensation. >> Stephanie Ederman, >> yes. >> Randy Hidman, >> yes. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. Tom Ward. [clears throat] >> Yes. >> Breen. >> Yes. >> DJ Dondair. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll look for the approval of board members rights to employment as outlined by MSBA. >> Motion. >> Second. >> We've got a motion by Director Donninger, a second by Director Breen. Any discussion? Just to clarify, uh, chair, uh, it's a board member can be paid up to a certain dollar amount while still serving on on the board. >> Correct. Yeah. >> So, like if somebody was a I'm not

151doing it anymore, but a substitute teacher, they could make up to $20,000 and they're still okay. Just for clarification, that >> Okay, that's all. >> Which also includes their salary. So, right. Yeah. >> There discussion? [clears throat] If not, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Randy Hidman, >> uh, yes. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Joe Breen, >> yes. >> Doner, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Thank you. We will look for the readoption of all the school board policies as previously adopted. There's a motion. >> I'll second. >> We got a motion by Director Heidman. Uh second by Director Edman. Any discussion? >> If not, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Bill Breen,

152>> yes. >> DJ Donner, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Heidman, >> yes. >> Thank you. We will look for approval of the superintendent of schools to be identified as the LEA, the local education authority for the Minnesota Department of Education and for the federal and state purposes for reertification of the district. >> So moved. >> So move. >> I'll second. >> All right. We've got a motion by Director Ward and a second by Director Breen. Any discussion? >> If not, we'll do a roll call vote, please. John Ward. Yes. >> Joe Breen. >> Yes. >> DJ Doninger. >> Yes. >> Stephanie Edman. >> Yes. >> Randy Hidman. >> Yes. >> Spear. [snorts] >> Yes. >> Thank you. Uh and number 14 is to establish date time and place of regular schoolboard meetings.

153We've got the 2026 meetings there and the 2026 uh committees and other subcommittees and community committees as listed. We'll look for approval of that. So this has got all the meeting dates. >> Yes. >> Quarterly work sessions. >> Oh, did you switch it up? >> Yep. We changed it to when was it? The end of March. End of March will be the first one. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> And didn't we kind of change it back to the way we used to do the workshops? Yeah, we >> did. It makes sense now. >> Yeah, it does make sense. >> We'll look for a motion. So moved. >> Second. We've got a motion by Director Heidman, a second by Director Breen. Any further discussion? >> If not, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Joe

154Breen, >> yes. >> Doninger. >> No. >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Randy Hidman, >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. John Ward. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. All right. We will We're at the end of our agenda, so we will come back to the slate of nominations for the election of officers and we'll look for nominations for the chairperson. >> I'll make the nomination for DJ Doninger. >> Thank you. >> Are there any further nominations? Move. I'll move nomination of Sarah Spear. >> Thank you. Are there any further nominations? >> Do we talk about this or do we just vote again? >> We can have discussion about it. >> Can we? >> Sure. >> Can Yes. >> Is that what they told you on your inquiry today? Well, I'd like to be the chairman.

155It's my fourth year on the board. Um, I think that we've got a split board. I think everybody knows that. I think it's a three-3 board. And I hear a lot about there's no one, you know, there's no caving or bending or or, you know, getting along with this board. And last year I mentioned being the chairperson and uh Kelly told me I didn't have time and Peter looked at me with the big eyes. But um so I said fine, I'm backing up Sarah Spear and I have no problem with it. And um but now it's been a year. I watched the county. They had a new chairman every single year. Uh it's the way they do it and I think that it's time that you had your year and I think you did a

156fine job and I think now this year I should have my chance. um and you know in my fourth year so I think I have a lot of experience for sure with with uh hiring people and finances and big budgets and these kinds of things and um I think I've got a lot of experience that I can bring to the board. So that's my pitch. >> I can't disagree with that at all. I think you I think you bring a lot of experience. I think you've been on the board four years. I think you understand what the board. Um it breaks a little bit of protocol of how we've operated as a board that you know we usually like to put somebody in the vice chair seat so it's not as strenuous or arduous on

157administration then when you step up to st up to chair that you know kind of the ropes um of what that looks like in the operations behind chairing. Um that's that's one of my hesitencies. One of my other ones is just that we are heading into a season of hiring um a superintendent that we are heading into a season of doing budgeting. And I I know we want to convey consistency. We want to convey that we um have a handle on having done this before and having been in not necessarily this seat but part of um a number of our last prior in the last five years superintendent hires. Um I I feel like I could bring some consistency to that. That being said, another option could be we um continue we vote here tonight

158and we tie and we continue with acting this acting slate of folks that were officers last year and we come back to this in February when we're through some of the superintendent work and some of that work and and um in the meantime we talk about how we can we and make some other decisions around um the the slate of officers here. I'm really open to that. >> Well, the first thing I think we have to do is vote. >> Yeah. >> And then if that's what you want to do, if that goes the way it goes, then someone has to make a motion, I believe, to table it, >> right? >> I think it just automatically does. >> Oh, really? >> Yep. It moves to whenever we put it back on the agenda which

159or the next meeting the next business meeting. >> Okay. >> Uh inquiry as to uh our policy uh which was provided to us as part of our packet tonight. It states and I I'm not sure what MSBA policy is. I haven't double checked. I just received this and it says here in case of a lack of majority vote for chairperson of all members present the top two candidates in the number of votes received or in the case of a tie all those tied should be voted upon retaining the top two nominees in votes until a majority vote of those board members present is received by a nominee. Now that's what our policy is. Now, I'm not suggesting that we can't do what what you're suggesting to do is just kind of table it, but that's

160what our policy says. And I think it's kind of fruitless to continue voting for a guy tonight. >> I do too. So, you guys are comfortable with it. >> I mean, I don't have a problem with us kind of skirting. >> Yeah. >> And not skirting it, but just we we'll take it up at a Yeah. >> at another meeting. >> Well, it has to be the next meeting. >> At the next meeting, and I think we can work through this. So, Yeah, >> I guess I [clears throat] feel that um it was my impression with our visiting with partner ed that they highly recommended based on all of what our district is facing that we have that consistency and that stability in that seat. So, I think getting through the superintendent search and hiring,

161interviewing and hiring, then that may be a good time to revisit this. >> Well, that should be we'll be pretty much done with that by then. Yeah. And then um I talked to Barb today and she felt that since our board, she said that in a lot of searches right now, we could have three new board members coming on this board right now. >> True. >> So, she's like, "You're awfully stable and no one's leaving." and she's like it's real common that she said that she thinks that um you know half of the boards that they deal with have they rotate chairmans every year they don't stick with one >> so she's like I don't think it's a factor >> she said is it best practice well we wouldn't go out and put it in

162that this is what you should definitely change one if you're trying to hire soup but she's like I don't think it's a negative especially when your board is so is so stable because we're not getting any new people I suppose Some boards they have elections every year. So you got one or two coming on every year. >> It's probably true. >> Or we're kind of the three and three deal. So >> Okay. Well, you better have the vote so we're legal. >> Okay. Good discussion. Um we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Oh, m Madam Chair. >> Yes, >> Madam Chair. >> Yes, >> Madam Chair. Okay, thank you. Um [clears throat] DJ referenced that we um you know we have a three to three board and obvious that's obviously um known information but

163I think it's okay too. What people don't see is the number of times that we do agree. I think diversity and um differences of opinion and different ideas are okay and sometimes we're going to get locked in. We're going to get locked into a three to three. Um I think DJ would do a a good job. I think Sarah would I think anybody on the board would do a good job as as chair right now. Um however, um as Michelle indicated, um you know, we're going through a pretty critical time in our school district history. Um and um I think at this point it's it's good to keep um things as as is. What my question is this, Madam Chair, is do we have to stay, you know, how about uh you as chair and

164DJ as a vice chair because I know that you guys I know Randy is the current vice chair and works together with you as I understand it. Um and Peter and um do we have to keep the same exact slate then? >> No. for the when we bring this back to the agenda. Is that the question? >> For right now. For right now. You said I thought you said if it's still a tie uh we rem we remain with the sta same slate of our current officers. We we are not able to go through. >> I think that's what our options are. >> Yeah. We remain because we we would all be in acting roles then. We would not necessarily be filling these roles as elected into that role. We would be acting in that

165role until it's filled if that makes sense. >> We can make it another month. >> All right. I wanted to have a clarification of that. Thank you. >> No. John, are you making a motion that Sarah is uh chair and DJ is vice chair? >> I don't think that's the way it works. >> Yeah. Okay. >> But good question. >> If I could make a good question and good clarification, I think >> we're all new to this, so good stuff. All right. If there's no further discussion, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> DJ Dunlayer, >> DJ, >> Stephanie Edman, >> DJ, >> Randy Heidman, [snorts] >> what is the motion on the floor? >> Oh, yes. >> For me, >> for clarification, I thought we I thought we were discussing >> motion. This

166is a vote. >> Moving this to the next meeting, I thought is what we talked about. >> First, we have to vote. >> Have to have another vote. >> Got nomination, then the vote. >> Okay. So, we're voting for who is going to >> DJ or Sarah. >> Okay. Uh, director Dinger, >> Sarah Spear, >> John Ward, >> Sarah Spear, >> Shreen, >> Sarah Spear. >> Thank you, Kelly. All right, we will move that to the next meeting. Let's see. Thank you everyone. And that is the last thing on our >> inquiry, please. >> Yes. >> Did we Okay. I know that we we voted about the meetings. Mhm. >> But we did not vote at all about committee appointments, uh, etc. Does that have to be voted on or are those appointed? >> Those

167are part of the the same the meetings and committees are part of the same motion. >> Okay. Because I didn't hear that as part of the motion. I just heard about the uh when we were going to do our meetings and our workshops and all that other stuff. So, I just just wanted to clarify that. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And you're good with that? That's okay. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure all the other board members were aligned with their committee assignments and whatnot. >> I guess that's all. >> I It's probably beyond time for discussion, but I was wondering why DJ voted against it. >> But that was that was on the calendar. >> Yeah. But why? >> Well, you won't get to bring it up again. >> All

168right. [laughter] >> I'll talk to you about [snorts] it after. >> Okay. >> You guys can have a conversation. Um and we'll look for a motion to adjourn, please. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. No, >> we've got a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> We've got a motion by Director Edman, a second by Director Heidman. >> Any further discussion on the adjournment? If not, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Hidman, >> yes. >> Spear, >> yes. >> Ward, >> yes. >> Shreen, >> yes. >> DJ Dunlier, >> yes. >> Thank you. All right, we are adjourned. Let's take uh Okay. Well, let's see. It's 6:17. You guys want a five minute break, 10 minute break? >> I don't even need a

169break. >> I don't really need one after our little break that we had either. So, >> you guys ready to roll? >> Yeah. >> It all depends upon what the >> what the folks want to do. >> Brian, are you good with that? All right, we will just roll into our regular meeting. It is 6:17. We'll call this meeting to order and we'll look for the approval of the agenda. >> I'll make it. >> Second. >> We've got a motion by Director Edman and a second by Director [clears throat] Hegman. Any discussion on the agenda? Not. We'll do a roll call vote, please. >> We need a roll call starting a meeting who's here. >> We need a roll call because John is >> remote. No, but just roll call of Right. Please. >> Yeah,

170>> I guess because it's a new meeting, >> right? Sorry about that. We will start the meeting with roll call of who's here. [laughter] >> Michelle Breen >> here. >> Doninger >> here. >> Stephanie Edman >> here. >> Heidman >> here. >> Sarah Spear >> here. >> John Ward >> here. >> Thank you, Kelly. Sorry, I [laughter] skipped right past that. >> And if I could, I'd make us do the pledge again. But [laughter] >> one more. thing to do one more time. >> All right. And so we've already we already have a motion in a second on the approval agenda. We're way ahead of ourselves and we'll look for a roll call vote on that. >> Randy Hman, >> uh, yes. >> Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Breen, >> yes.

171>> Donnelly, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Who seconded that? Sorry. >> Um, Director Heidman. Yep. and recognitions. We don't have not we don't have any at this time and we'll move on to public input. So, a member of the public can address the board during this time. Comments will be limited to three minutes. Complaints or allegations against students or employees may not be discussed due to data privacy. Complaints or allegations must be submitted in writing to Superintendent Grant. The board of education uh and superintendent will not converse with guests to address the topics discussed at this time. And we've got a couple of folks. Uh we'll start with Eric Joe, please. >> Welcome. >> Hello. Hello. My name is Eric Job. I won't waste a lot of your time

172with my resume, but I am an employee of ISD 181 working without a new contract. Each year our business director um comes before the board to explain educational funding and the fact that our funding has not kept up with inflation. I believe I remember superintendent Grant saying that anything less than a 3% increase is actually a cut. This means that throughout my career schools have had to do more with less or choose to offer less. The part that isn't often discussed is that funding the funding we do receive is designed to be spent in that year for a free appropriate public education. This means there's a basic level of education that every district has to offer. Beyond this, schools choose to spend money on extra things. Not all schools choose to offer the same things

173that Brainer does, including extracurriculars. Brainer offers sports that other schools don't. and we allow students from other schools to participate in some of our offerings. Our school board also chooses to spend money on things that some other schools don't prioritize, such as a free Chromebook for every student. Not every school has an HR department. Not every district offers AP and CIS courses. Those are choices. Brainer offers a lot of wonderful extra opportunities, and I would not be happy to see any of them disappear. But if we choose to offer extras approved by the board, the board cannot realistically expect that any of those costs be paid for by the school employees through a reduction in salaries or benefits. As the employees of Brainard are the are also seeing inflationary cost increases of 3% rising health

174care costs. Paying for extras is what operating levies are designed for. A referendum offers a community a chance to choose or to close that inflationary gap. And if ISD 181 would like to maintain those extras rather than place, they should not be placing them on the backs of their school staff. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right. Next up, we have Doug Kern, please. [snorts] >> Hey, happy new year and was expecting a happy new chair, but not yet. Not yet. Um, uh, the last couple times that I've come to the meetings, we've had, um, uh, the door down there that the public's supposed to enter, uh, just a concern. Um, we waited down there for the door to be unlocked. Tried to contact different people that we knew and we get up

175here and the room was full of of people already with people that have cards. And during the whole levy process, it would have been nice to have some of the public, not employees, be here, you know, to have seats. Um, you know, and I understand you got a card, you can get in, but when you got the door for the public locked down there where you can't get in, that's somebody needs to step up a little bit and make sure that door is unlocked. I'm just just saying. Um, I want to thank you guys for not passing the levy because we still haven't fixed the problem of the DEI going on in in the school district. Um, to change the the name to the welcoming schools committee. Um, that's still the equity committee. And I

176I'm I appreciate you guys, you know, doing what you can. I feel bad that you're going to have to do some cutting and some things that you're going to have to do to make it the books balance. Uh hopefully with everything that's going on in Minnesota, I think the teachers deserve a raise, but you know, with everything that's going on, I I don't see how that's going to happen. So, I I'm looking forward to um I see the numbers dwindling as far as the students we're losing for promoting DEI in the in the district. Some of that is from that. Um and I'm just looking forward to that stopping so that we increase our numbers. So changing the name uh from to welcoming schools committee that's still not correcting the problem but thank you again

177for not passing the levy. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. We'll move on to the approval of minutes from our regular schoolboard meeting on December 9th. Look for a motion. >> I'll make one. >> Second. >> Got a motion by Director Edman, a second by Director Heman. Any discussion? If not, we'll do a roll call vote for approval, please. >> Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Breen, >> yes. >> Don, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Heman, >> yes. >> Thank you. We'll move on to the approval of minutes from our special school board meeting on the 23rd. Look for a motion to approve. >> I make a motion we approve. >> Second. Got a motion by Director Breen, a second by Director Dondelinger. Any

178discussion? >> If not, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Michelle Breen, >> yes. >> DJ Don, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Andy, >> yes. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> Thank you. We'll move on to the consent calendar. >> Motion. >> Second. Motion by director Donelinger, a second by director Edman. >> Any discussion? >> We'll start to work back. >> Not we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Shel Breen, >> yes. >> DJ Dondeling, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Hidman, >> yes. >> Sarah Spear, >> yes. >> Don Ward, >> yes. Yes. >> Thank you. All right, we'll move on. We have a presentation from Brainard High School um principal Dr. Dr. Carrie Bozer and Carrie Ross on the schedule

179recommendation. >> Welcome. >> Evening. >> Thanks for joining us. >> Good evening. Uh Madame Chair, members of the board, Superintendent Grant, uh we just have a very quick uh presentation for you this morning to follow up from previous um budget discussions where we talked about specific line items and one of those line items was potentially going to a sixth period day at BHS. Uh so since that um initial list, we have been meeting with um admin and uh stakeholders um other members of our district staff to explore all of the possibilities of um six period day, seven period day. um staffing requirements, um financial considerations, the impact it would have on students to make the change, all of those things that you can imagine in and many many more um conversations. I would uh add

180that I appreciative of Carrie and her team for being open and willing to have those hard conversations. Uh when we talk about change, it's not always easy. Um but after doing our due diligence, we bring this um summary forward for you tonight. Uh the recommendation has gone to the superintendent to remain um with a seven period day at the high school for the next school year. Uh in addition to making some staffing cuts to hit our finance target. Um we also want to point out that this action is aligned to our strategic plan in the following ways. uh educate and inspire each student for lifelong success. Um ensuring that all students are ready for a career in college with 100% of high school students experiencing authentic learning experiences and increasing a sense of belonging and

181well-being in our schools and our community. Dr. Bozer, would you add more? >> Do you have the summary? >> They do. Good. Okay. Um and I know I wrote on um I know one of the questions or one of the statements um early on when it when it was when the budget was brought up in the high school, it was um reducing back to a sixth period day from a seven. Um and when we looked at 2016 when they shifted to the um seven period day to now there wasn't um that reduction when it regarding staff. It wasn't we have we don't have additional st based on that. Um I believe they had added a few FTEEs. Um I think it was three to be exact back in 2016, but as through the years and

182as um principal Russ had to look at doing um reductions, we actually do not have additional staff. Um so looking at Oh, sorry. >> Okay. So the seven period day for me um it was important if we could maintain opportunities for our students and we looked at how many students take advantage of the opportunity to take potentially 14 courses for versus 12 in a year. Um and we did have a large number of students doing that. So reducing it to a six period day would reduce that opportunity for students um to the max of 12. Um, and also looking at when you look at a secondary system, you really look at when you make cuts in programming, it's really cutting opportunities for students because of the electives and things you have because it would be

183those. So, we were able to look at um the adjustments that have been made um and as you can see, make adjustments that meet that fiscal um need that we needed to and still maintain that seven period day um and those opportunities for our kids. So, >> thank you. >> Did you want to entertain questions? Do you want >> Are there questions? >> I've got some. I've got some, of course. >> [clears throat] >> Um what is the state requirement for graduation >> for credits? >> Oh, it is locally determined. >> Yes, it is locally. >> Is there a minimum though? >> Well, there's a minimum that are required courses that need to be offered. But >> every school district does it a little bit differently. Some folks have, for example, a semester class as

184one credit and some do it as a five credit. >> So there is not necessarily a standard approach. we just um have to meet those requirements that are set forward. >> Um are there any elective classes that will be um discontinued under this proposal? >> Again, that the other piece that we have to go through also is the registration process because part of part of our um adjustment is the number of students in a course. Um so based on registration and that's again a secondary system we go through registration and based on student um wants student you know that that will determine whether or not some of our courses will be offered and that's the reality every year that we schedule a high school system. >> So the answer to that is there may yes

185there may be >> okay >> I just can't tell you what that would be. >> We do list more courses in the catalog than actually run. >> Is there a minimum that we we'd like to see in these elective classes in order to continue them. >> Yes. Um again, it depends on the course because there's safety standards that are in place for certain courses. Um so we have to look at state recommended numbers um or CTE recommended um looking at safety and and obviously classroom square footage as well. >> The one thing that does kind of concern me a little bit, but I guess that's probably where the savings are going to come from are the 10 FTEEs that are Is that going to come through? Uh I mean, if we're not eliminating any elective

186classes, if we're uh I mean uh hopefully some of maybe we we get some early retirements possibly. I don't know. >> It's all of the above, Randy. Okay. Including the projected enrollment for this year. >> Okay. >> And and our expected class sizes. >> Okay. It's very much of a combination of all the things that we need to consider when we're being doing our due diligence with staffing. >> Okay. >> In a fiscally responsive way. >> But that's the that's kind of the where we're at is that's where the the majority of the savings is going to come from of the 800,000 that's in this. >> It's all of it. >> All of it. Okay. >> Okay. >> Dr. Dr. Bzer, do you have a [clears throat] a rough estimate of how many students take

187advantage of those elective classes? You know, you said it was >> It says a third. >> Yeah, a third. >> I was going to say a third. >> Okay. >> It's like 550. >> Okay. >> It's a lot. >> That's a lot. Y >> that's a lot. >> Yeah. >> And that's why it's important to keep what Absolutely can. >> Y >> because those are opportunities that those students look forward to. Um and we we look at um just giving our students different career cluster opportunities exposure to because at the secondary level it's really they're looking at what do I want to do the rest of my life and it's important to have different opportunities in a variety of areas so they can at least have an idea maybe of what they don't want to

188do when they graduate. Um so our goal is to keep as many opportunities as possible while being fiscally responsive. Madam Chair. >> Yes. Director Ward. >> Um Dr. Bozer. [clears throat and cough] Excuse me. Carrie, could you tell me um Randy referenced the 10 FTEEs that um approximately that would be lost? Um and they they will they be identified through the registration process? Is that what you're saying? >> I didn't understand. Um he's asking how we will identify the 10 FTEs of that demonstrate registration. >> Yes, we have to that's why this is pretty general because we really have to go through the registration process and we haven't done that yet. >> When is that? >> Pardon? >> When when is that? >> February. >> Okay. >> Oh, okay. >> They have another another question.

189I'm sorry. Go ahead, Dr. Bozer. Go ahead. Yeah, they have some our staff will be trained um in a program that our students will be registering in um and that'll happen the training will happen February 13th and registration will happen after that. So, but it will be done in February. >> And I also see that the maximum number of students in a classroom would be 36. How was that number um achieved? What what were the um you know what what went into finding that number 36? >> I'm going to be honest that was a number given to me. >> Okay. >> Because I believe that was a number and and I don't you can correct me but I believe that was a number um with through the forest view work as well. So that was

190a number that I was given that I needed to aim for. And again, we have to look at classrooms, class size, space, square footage, um, and a variety of things. So, we can say 36, but that doesn't mean every class will have 36 students in order to run a a course because there are limits for various reasons outside of just square footage. >> Dr. Bozer is correct. That number was given to the high school admin as part of this process. It's been kind of unwritten in the past. Um but we have not been very diligent about making sure that we uh accessed our targets for class sizes. Um and our recommendation is very specific about not to exceed 36. So there is flexibility in those courses where we need flexibility. >> Thank you. And um

191one last question I think one last question. Um, has there been any discussion about um adding some college in school classes um versus um versus an AP? >> Yes, there has. Um, and we will actually be adding at least one course that I don't I don't know if it has been offered in the past, but in our ELA area because again adding a CIS class, a college in the schools um class, there's some requirements for that instructor. um the higher learning commission there's some you know standards that have to be met and that is a master's within that content area or a master's in some other area plus 18 credits um so there's also and you know and again that varies in the content area as well CTE has different regulations um so we have

192that that we also have to take a look at in order to offer courses um [clears throat] so we will be adding um CIS composition to our registration guide. Um, and we will have a teacher within that um, will be offering that. My hope is that we have students um, that take advantage of that within our system um, and don't go elsewhere because we do have a number of students that are going elsewhere for that course, but we have a teacher that is qualified to teach it. Um, so the answer is yes. [snorts] >> Thank you for that as well. And that spurred one more question for me. Is there any is there any additional um online schooling going to be increased at at the high school and maybe even at the middle school? >>

193I can speak for what I know of high school. I haven't seen any added courses or they haven't come across my table. Um right now my goal is to try to help support and manage the number of courses we currently have offered. Um, so that's my answer for the high school at this moment. >> Dr. Director Ward for Forest View. There will not be online courses offered next year. We need at least one more year of development before we do that. >> Thank you very much for that information, both of you. >> I have a question, but I don't think it's the right place to ask it. I'm not expecting you to answer it. I guess I don't know. It's more maybe it's more of a statement. But first of all, thanks for finding this.

194This is excellent. Um, this is the kind of work I think we need to be doing at all the buildings and all departments and that's the shape that we're in. Um, I think that myself and a lot of other people would feel a lot better if we saw these small I mean I don't want to say it's a small sacrifice, but you know, if everyone could find a little here and a little there. So, I really appreciate what you're doing, but my question is this is that if we go from seven to six periods, which I realize isn't really that's what I mean. I don't know if this is your deal. This is more of a Marcy question. Maybe we save another 800,000. >> Not necessarily. >> Well, that's what it was estimated to us

195as, which is the same as if we close an elementary school. So, my question is which is more important? You know, I'm thinking that, you know, I talked to John about it. Um, I don't think [snorts] us saving ourselves back to breaking even is a victory. I think we need to find a way to reduce class sizes in the little with the little kids and maybe get some help back in for the teachers. Um, you know, that's one of the big deals with the levy came up today and that's one [clears throat] of the main reasons I'm not for the levy because it's not like we're going to get anything better. We're just going to maintain what we're doing and we need to somehow help these younger kids. we keep continuing to slide and uh

196it's belling me out, but I'm kind of on my rant here, so I'll stop. But I'd be interested, you know, I know what the kids think about the seven to six deal, and I I appreciate it. I appreciate that you gave us actual numbers and told us it was a third. Welcome to Brainer Schools, by the way, and good job finding this and all that stuff. But again, for what we're going to have to make, decisions we have to make this spring, I just, you know, it's a victory and great job. But I I don't think we want to take everything else off the table just yet because that's might be another cut that we need to try to consider because if you took the two together, I mean, that'd almost be half of our

197deficit. >> You wouldn't save, [cough] >> huh? >> It wouldn't be the savings that you >> Believe me, I analyzed it. >> Did you? >> And um you're not going to save another $600,000. What you're going to do >> because of the FTEES and um the instruction is still five out of seven, five out of six. Um what you do is you take away the opportunities for kids. We're saving the money. >> Well, we're taking away plenty of opportunities for kids with our little kids not being able to read, but the um the question I have is and maybe you can explain this to me. It was like 250,000 to change the graduation standards plus 500,000 in going from seven to six periods for a grand total of about 790 I believe. I can dig

198it up and get it for you. Yep, it was. >> Um, so how do we save the money in the graduation standards? Maybe you know, Carrie, >> I I think going back to that list that you're referencing, those were just placeholders. Um, and and Superintendent Grant would have a better word for that. Um those were guess those were like wild guesses. Um placeholder sounds better than a wild guess. Um to >> they're what they are >> to include those line items for consideration. >> Um we never thought that going from a six period day to a seven period day would be the answer. We needed to gather information. That was the charge given to us from superintendent grant. How are we going to be able to be fiscally responsible explore all of our opportunities for

199cost reductions at BHS? We did a deep dive with that at Forest View last year. Uh we've been doing that intermittent intermittently with the elementary schools and other programming and we haven't actually done that deep dive at the high school. So that's what we did. Uh we thought that it might be advantageous to talk about sixth period day versus a seventh period day. Um but finding that we can meet that budget target without changing the students school day was preferable which is why that recommendation was brought to the superintendent >> but if necessary we could save a little bit more money. >> The FTE is I'm not seeing it. >> Okay. Honestly, >> I talked to one of your retired principles that told me about when they put it in at 16 and told me

200that um everybody knew it was going to cost more money, but they had the money so it didn't really matter. You know, it was kind of a nice thing to try. >> But regardless, we'll get back to that another day. I'm sure that's going to come back to another. >> I'll call you. >> Yeah, absolutely. And I'll go through the numbers and process. >> Thank you. Um so >> so we will know a lot more after registrations come through and we can look at this in more detail etc. So this is just kind of a a review. >> This is just a highle summary. >> High level summary. Okay. >> You've asked us to keep you informed about where we are and >> thank you. >> Um looking at all of the items that were

201on your preferences um on the budget sheet. >> Um so this is today's installment of that update. >> Well, I appreciate that a lot. >> So, just a point of clarification, outside of courses that are required, >> all the electives survive on the registration process. >> You find out what kids want on the elective side. If they don't have enough numbers, that class probably won't go depending on the nature of the class. >> Um, registration, just like anything else, it drives the bottom line. kids tell that really the kids are saying this is what we want to do and if there's not enough usually when they register [clears throat] you know they'll fill up their thing but they might have two or three other courses they would like as an option because one of the

202other ones might not float so then you say well they wanted this option how does this fit into the numbers game it is it's all numbers [clears throat] >> it was like that when I went to school here >> you were trying to get into that class and it's like oh that was already filled up so you didn't get it so you have to take it next here. >> I never had that problem where I went to high school. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you for the creative work to to get through this. [clears throat] >> All right. Um let's move on to >> new business for action. We've got a couple of things on the agenda. the approval of the ratification of the operating engineers local 49 contract next two years as presented by

203Marcy Lord and Jason Olsen. Welcome. Thanks for joining us. Hello, Chairman Spear and uh board members. We're before you tonight uh recommending ratification of the collective bargaining agreement with the operating engineers localh 49. We've got a copy of the tenative agreements that we've come to uh with that union. They've ratified this uh agreement on their side. So, we're asking for you uh to do that same u ratification. Not a not a ton of language in the tenative agreements, mainly uh compensation related. Uh we did add a uniform allowance amount and some other things. >> And the uniform allowance is something we've always done. It was just getting in the contract so that when new employees are hired, they're aware that that's a that's a benefit, right? Um it wasn't written anywhere previously. We also made

204some slight adjustments to uh further incent our employees to obtain a boiler license uh giving them some additional time off to work towards that both in course work and things like that. So uh those are kind of some of the main highlights. I'll let Marcy talk about compensation. >> Um and then in the the grids it was the first year was 1% in steps and the second year was 1%. Um and to pay for the second year, we are going to not fill a position in that unit. So that it technically would be a wash that second year. There there would be no cost on that one. >> So how do we get rid of that person? Mars, is it are people going to have to work overtime to keep up or we just had

205we just were a little fat in one school or how's that work? >> A floating sub position and we will not be filling that and will not have subs. >> What does a uniform allowance look like? Just >> so um previously the process has been that they can pick out a shirt up to $100 and then they place an order and anything over that the employee is responsible for and it's a a format that is approved by buildings and grounds. >> Okay. just to identify that they are buildings and grounds people >> and it doesn't even Brainer public schools you know it doesn't maybe doesn't necessarily say buildings and grounds but it identifies Brainer public schools. >> Okay. Does every employee get that uniform? Just >> um the only two groups are custodial and food

206service. >> Okay. Got it. >> So have generally wore your blue colors >> etc. >> I've seen gray >> gray. Okay. Cool. Okay. I appreciate your uh your custodial costing summary here too. That made a little more sense to me as well. >> Y >> and we're very appreciative of that group uh working with us given our tight financial situation. Um it was not an easy bargain, you know, for for either side, but certainly for them. Um, you know, just given our limited dollars in in year two of that agreement, we were able to do something with the uh using some long-term uh facilities maintenance money to increase there's I think three positions that all they do is district-wide maintenance and looking at their comparables. um you know they were a little bit under market

207so we added $2 an hour onto those positions a to be reflective of market but also to help kind of give a glide path for other operating engineers who might want to aspire to that kind of show that differential and then since it's out of a long-term LTFM money we don't have to pull it out of general >> so you got those guys recoded >> they've been coded there since uh 2425 Perfect. Nice. >> Okay. >> So, um I guess what I'm looking at as far as your summary, u Mars, um it looks like it's about uh one and a half% per year >> On average. Yeah. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure of my math. >> Um >> based upon what you give us gave us here. >> Yeah. 2.07 and then.99.

208>> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. >> I'll second. We've got a motion by Director Doninger, a second by Director Heidman. Any further discussion? >> Yes. I got a question, Madam Chair. >> Yes. >> On uh the appendix appendix A, um I see that the uh Forest [snorts] View lead maintenance engineer and the BHS day engineer positions will be eligible to move step uh past step four. Um why why are they the only two? Aren't the other ones eligible as well? Those are those LTFM positions that we were talking about. >> Okay. All right. Thank you for that clarification. >> Y. >> So, we we kept the other four steps the same, >> I believe, and then added a fifth step for those those positions. >> Cool. >> Thank you. Good question. >> Yeah.

209>> All right. There's no further discussion. We'll do a roll call vote, please. >> DJ Dun, >> yes. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Hidman, >> yes. Spear, >> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Joe Breen, >> yes. >> Thank you, Kelly. >> Thank you both. >> Thanks. >> Appreciate it. >> All right, we'll move on to the approval of the third and final reading of our policy 440, the employee social media use. >> Motion. >> I'll second. Got a motion by Director Doninger, a second by Director Breen. Any further discussion? There's been no no adjustments or no updates or anything. Same same. Gotcha. >> Cool. >> Good question. >> Right. We'll look for a roll call vote then, please. >> Stephanie Edman, >> yes. >> Randy Hidman, >> yes. >> Sarah Spear,

210>> yes. >> John Ward, >> yes. >> Bre, >> yes. >> Donnelly, >> yes. >> Thank you. We are entering the last segment of our meeting here, theformational report outs, and we'll start with the Briner Public Schools Foundation, Dr. Edman. >> Okay. So, they're still accepting scholarships for um till March 17th. So, if any high school senior would like to apply, they can apply until March 17th. And then the big event is an Olympic themed event is at Grand View this year on February 21st and there are still tickets left. So you just got to you can scan this or you just got to go to their website and buy tickets. >> Great. Thank you. >> Wear your ice skating outfit. >> I watched it. It's on this whole weekend. >> We We all are.

211We should all wear [laughter] tonight. All right. Um the wellness task force, Director Breen. >> Um yep. We met on January 6th. Um we met at Forest View and um our committee got there at 7:30 so we could welcome Forest View students back to school after the winter break which was a ton of fun. And then we had our meeting. Um we've added a counseling position to that um task force. uh Allison Bullard at the high school and we will also be adding um Northern Pines to be a part of that to be at the table with us. Um right now we're just kind of looking at um possibly creating some calming rooms for staff in each of the buildings. looking at maybe some grants that can fund that and um getting input and support

212from the principles in each of the buildings to create these calming rooms for people to go to just take a break. >> Great. Thank you. And safe and welcoming schools committee >> and we did not have a meeting this month so nothing to report. >> Great. We [clears throat] are back to you, Director Lord, with the November financial report and the enrollment report. Welcome back. >> Yeah, it's going to be short and sweet. Um, nothing to note in the financial report unless there's any questions. And then on the enrollment report, we are down 70 from the beginning of the school year. And when we look at the 5-year average, we'd be down about 53. So, we are higher than usual, but we'll continue to monitor that. Um, any questions on that? that. >> Thank you.

213>> And last but not least, the superintendence report. Superintendent Grant, >> I just have a couple things. Um, if you recall, we had asked uh Hazel Reinhardt to do a demographic study for the district as we go into this budget reduction. She is almost completed. Um, I think she'll have it ready probably in a week and then we will share that with the board. Um, and then it if for nothing if for nothing else, it gives us information of what to look for in the future as far as uh is our enrollment going to continue to drop or is it going to stabilize? Is there going to be a chance for it to rise? And then the other thing is um you know [clears throat] Christmas break really came at a good time so to

214speak because we had a lot of kids who have been sick um but we still have high numbers right now out with the flu of some kind. And um when we met with the principles last week, I encourage them to remind staff and students, wash your hands, keep the desk cop clean, make sure we disinfect everything from door knobs to whatever. Um you know, it's just it's going through everywhere in the state. And it's not that our numbers are any more alarming than anybody else's, it's just that we're going through a tough time for both kids and adults. And the other thing is that um seems like once they get through it, you think, "Okay, you're done." And it comes right back and kicks them in the butt. And I think probably some of the

215adults can allude to that definitely. But um we're, you know, we just got to be careful. And when you're can be outside, it's better. And when you can't be outside, it gets worse. and you know our schools um we try to do the best we can to keep the kids running around outside but it's just it's the flu season and we're just battling through it and hopefully uh we can get out of it [clears throat] fairly soon and not have to deal with so many teachers and kids being out of school. >> I guess the hospitals are just like full of it. >> Yes. Yeah, >> it is going >> they they have pulled >> it's not just us >> emergency room people they have to do triage almost with all the kids all the

216adults and kids coming in you know it's just what it is >> and we're just going to fight through it >> it's not the first time >> no >> it won't be the last year >> all right [clears throat] um there's our slate of future meetings I would point out that there will be a few of us at the MSBA [clears throat] leadership conference there won't be a quorum, but um some >> some words about that in case that comes up. And then also we have a few dates on here for um our upcoming superintendent search and interview dates on February 2nd and 3rd and February 10th. >> All right. If there's nothing else, we'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Please, >> I'll make it. >> Is there a second? I'll second it. >> We've

217got a motion by Director Edman, a second by Director Heidman. >> 1400. >> Assuming there's no discussion, we'll do a roll call vote, please. >> Andy, >> yes.